Lake Country Power crews working until 9:00 p.m., standby crews to work night shift

June 21, 2022 - 3:30 p.m.

Lake Country Power line crews are working hard to restore electric service following a series of thunderstorms last night. Crews have restored power for 9,400 cooperative members since the height of Monday’s severe weather. Currently, more than 7,300 members are without service at 319 outage points.

The majority of those affected reside in St. Louis County where 3,600 members remain without service, including another 2,000 members in Itasca County. Also impacted are parts of Cass, Lake and Carlton counties.

For safety reasons, line crews will be sent home at 9:00 p.m. tonight for much needed rest after working 24 hours straight. Stand-by crews, represented by10 line workers, will pick up the workload and continue through the night until the rested crews begin again Tuesday morning for a 16-hour shift.

Broken poles and downed lines are being reported, along with difficult road access from fallen trees. Assessing the damages, Lake Country Power expects full restoration on Thursday.

Lake Country Power is keeping personnel working 24-hours around the clock until all members are restored from the storm.

Members may call the cooperative at 1-800-421-9959 to report an outage, or visit the Outage Center online at www.lakecountrypower.coop or http://outage.lcp.coop for an outage status.

Tips for extended outages:

• Make sure one of the phones in your home is not a cordless phone as these require electricity to charge, but also have a mobile phone for backup and charge it in your vehicle, if necessary.

• Use a battery powered flashlight, not candles.

• Keep a battery operated radio handy to listen for outage information and updates

• Turn off electrical equipment you were using before the power went out

• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Food should keep for up to 48 hours in a freezer, if the door remains closed. If the outage persists, cover your refrigerator or freezer with a blanket, make arrangements to store food at another location, or purchase dry ice.

• Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.

• Essential supplies: flashlight, batteries, radio, extra supply of water, food.

• Turn off and unplug your computer if you were using it. Buy a surge protector to protect the machine when power comes back on.

• Keep extra water on hand in jugs or the bathroom tub for flushing the toilet as needed.