Thursday, February 13, 2014
It was Twenty Years Ago
9:45 AM | 
Posted by
Billy Ray |
In light of the date and the present news about the storm affecting so many of our neighbors, we thought you might like to relive (in memory only) our big ice storm.
The ice storm of 1994 struck on the evening of Thursday,
February 10. The entire area awoke to heavy ice, the sounds of falling
branches and uprooting trees, and the inevitable result of electrical outages
as the trees and ice destroyed a large part of the Glasgow EPB electric
system. At that time the EPB had a total of 33 employees, all who reported
to work as quickly as they could navigate the obstacle course of downed lines
and trees, only to find that the majority of the city was without power. It
seemed that everyone was calling our office in hopes that we could perform
quick fixes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible as the damage was severe.
For the next five days our employees worked around the clock, rotating
shifts for a few quick hours of sleep in a few rooms obtained at a local hotel,
on the sofa in our lobby, or in a vacant office. We resorted to calling
Bowling Green, Frankfort and Louisville, who gratefully answered our pleas and
sent in additional crews and equipment. By noon on Saturday approximately
one-half of our customers had their power restored, with approximately 90% back
in service by midday on Monday.
While those of us who were employees at the time never want
to relive those days, we did witness some amazing things about our
community. Did we receive angry, even threatening, phone calls. Were
our crews in the field accosted and even harassed if they stopped for a brief
moment to eat a quick meal? Unfortunately, that happened too. People
were without a fundamental need, and we were the logical ones to lash out at in
the situation. But they were the minority. There were far more
individuals who found a way to pull together to work through the situation, and
even help us in the process. Neighbors reached out to each other and had
neighborhood “dinners” prepared on grills as their refrigerators and freezers
failed. Restaurant and grocery store owners came to our offices carrying
food that they could no longer use in order to feed our crews and staff.
Both funeral homes opened their doors to act as shelters and provide comfort
for those in need. And people even showed up at our door from nearby
cities with chainsaws and gasoline in hand, saying they had heard about our
problems and offered to clear ways for our crews to get to some areas.
During the past 20 years we have made a lot of improvements
to our service. We now have two TVA delivery point substations with
alternate feeds that can provide power to our city, and although it upsets
some people, immediately after the storm we instituted a tree trimming
policy that helps prevent a repeat of that event. Our EPB team members
are your neighbors, friends and families, and we are proud to have served you
for the past 51 years. While we certainly hope that we never experience
another event of that magnitude, please know that we are always here to serve
our community – no matter the weather or circumstances.
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