Crews Still Working to Restore Service for Lake Country Power Members

GRAND RAPIDS (PRESS RELEASE)– Line crews from Lake Country Power and its subsidiaries continue working to restore power for members.

Crews were nearly finished restoring power from Tuesday's violent thunderstorm when a second storm cell swept through the McGregor region at 6:00 a.m. this morning.

This has caused a major setback in power restoration efforts.

More than 1,700 members are currently without power. Part of the issue has to do with underground power line failure.

The power outages are located near Round Lake, Big Sandy Lake, McGregor and north on Highway 65, Babbitt and scattered locations south and east of Aurora and Eveleth.

Lake Country Power line crews are working to replace broken poles, restring broken lines and still work their way through downed trees and debris.

At the height of Tuesday's violent thunderstorm, nearly 16,000 Lake Country Power members lost electric service.

Heavy winds on Tuesday, some of which were straight line winds clocked at 60-70 mph, knocked trees and limbs onto power lines. Damage to Lake Country Power's distribution system has been extensive, and Friday morning's storm cell has set back restoration efforts.

Members may call the cooperative at 1-800-421-9959 for more information, or visit the Outage Center online at www.lakecountrypower.coop for a real-time outage status. Pictures and video of the restoration process is also available at http://youtu.be/JL7mmC9yCcw and the co-op's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lakecountrypower.

Lake Country Power, www.lakecountrypower.coop, is a Touchstone Energy® cooperative serving parts of eight counties in northeastern Minnesota.

The rural electric cooperative provides services to nearly 43000 members and has offices located in Grand Rapids, Kettle River and Mountain Iron