DAFTER, MI-- Officials with Cloverland Electric say the cost of the damage caused by a recent ice storm is estimated to be well over $1 million.
Freezing rain and ice paralyzed the Eastern U.P. over the New Year’s holiday. More than half of the co-op’s 33,000 members had no power on December 30. Crews restored thousands of outages after the initial storm, but more outages occurred and about 5,000 customers were in the dark for several days.
Cloverland Electric Director of Operations Paul Warner says it was the worst winter storm damage he’d seen in his 28 years with the utility.
Social media helped the co-op keep members informed with scheduled updates.
Officials remind the public to stay safe in storms by staying away from downed power lines. Report them to the co-op or a local law enforcement agency.