A backhoe drags metal power line scaffolding near Harrison, Tenn.Volunteer Electric Cooperative reported Tuesday afternoon that only three of its customers are still without power after Friday’s tornadoes knocked out seven substations and took 26,000 customers off the grid.
The substations were knocked offline when nearby TVA transmission lines failed, according to Volunteer Electric spokesman Robert McCarty. When workers restored the lines, the repair turned the power back on for 19,000 customers, he said.
“All available crews from across VEC’s 17-county service area as well as contract crews and additional tree-trimming crews were called in,” McCarty wrote in a news release.
In the Chattanooga area, EPB reported on Sunday that it had restored power to all but 90 of its customers, and restored power to the remainder on Monday. However, about 30 customers’ homes were so badly damaged that spokeswoman Deborah Dwyer said that “restoring electricity will not be immediate because of rebuilding and or major repairs required.”
About 3,600 EPB customers initially lost power, and another 3,150 briefly lost power before the utility’s Smart Grid re-routed power and restored their electricity instantly.