TVA transmission line crew members Paul White, left, and Paul Walker hook a line to the back of a truck to run a power line near the Widows Creek Coal plant in Stevenson, Ala.For 22 straight days before Memorial Day, TVA’s Travis Terry and his crew worked 16 to 18 hours a day, unsnarling the electric power grid after tornadoes tied power towers and electric lines in knots.
“In the first six or seven days, we worked 42 hours on, six hours off,” Terry said.
After Memorial Day weekend, the crew went back to its grueling schedule. This weekend Terry expected to get the last power grid line back up at the Widow’s Creek Fossil Plant in Northeast Alabama.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we’re tickled to death,” he said.
In late April, a record-setting attack of tornadoes took out 108 TVA power transmission lines and 353 of the utility’s monster power towers.