Power line crews working to restore power to the region - KVLY
Power line crews working to restore power to the region
DE LEMERE, N.D. (Valley News Live) -
A small North Dakota town has had power restored after a couple days without power. The freezing rain over the holiday downed power lines throughout the region, leaving many without heat and electricity.
Paul Mund has lived in De Lamere for the last 15 years and says the power has gone out from thunderstorms before, but this time was different.
He says, “Be out this long, is the first time it’s happened here.”
He adds, “We’ve had some ice before but we never lost power.”
Mund’s house and his restaurant next door lost power on Christmas Day and the restaurant was closed for a couple days. Today, they’re back in business.
Mund says, “We’re pretty fortunate, we got a generator so we were able to keep the heat on and keep the water going I guess.”
He jokes, “But I got behind a little bit on washing clothes.”
Mund says, power has been restored thanks to Dakota Valley Electric. Journey lineman have spent the last three days working to repair the downed lines, but they’re having troubles of their own. Melting ice has created mud and slush, making it difficult for crews to reach some power lines.
Thankfully, Mund was able to use his tractor to pull them out.
“Getting equipment out in the field and going off road has been tough,” says journey lineman, Nick Mauer.
He’s been in the field for almost 20 years and says he’s had some experience with this weather before. However, that doesn’t make the work any easier.
Mauer says, “It’s been 12 hour days ever since Christmas.”
Adding, “We’re coming, we’re coming to help it’s just, it’s a battle right now.”
He says since Christmas they’ve had nearly 3,000 calls for power outages and it could take a few weeks to repair all the lines.
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