Russell faces Challenges after Severe Storm

The city of Russell experienced another severe storm the afternoon of May 19.  With winds sweeping through the region at over 80 mph the city and the region received extensive damage to the distribution system.

The city immediately began to determine the extent of the damage and developed a plan of action to repair the system and restore power to the city’s customers.

A coordinated effort of multiple communities was initiated by Kansas Municipal Utilities.  The cities of Garden City, Ellinwood, Hoisington, Colby, and Pratt responded to a community in need with manpower, equipment, and materials to expedite the rebuilding process.

KMEA also responded to the call in need from one of our members.  Dan White, manager of field services, along with Nolan, field technician, responded to assist the city with coordination and repairs to the system.

With the expansion of the KMEA/Mid-States team, the array of services has expanded exponentially over the past few years.  KMEA/Mid-States can respond to the need of a member community in times of emergency like the city of Russell.

With the assistance of these communities and agencies working along side the city of Russell the utility reported that by approximately midnight the utility had power up on all circuits with only localized outages being reported.  Clean up and final repairs continued into the next week but with the quick work of all of the responders the citizens of Russell experienced power interruption limited as little as possible.