Intermittent storms in Benton County throughout the day on Sunday, July 12, lead to felled trees and outages in several neighborhoods. Teams from the Benton County Electric System and the Benton County Highway Department were quick to respond to restore power to affected areas.
“We experienced two fast moving storms that unusually came from the north and followed the river south, resulting in scattered outages throughout the county,” said BCES General Manager Raymond Barnes. “Most of the damage was in the eastern and south end of the county.”
The high winds took down numerous large trees, especially around Birdsong and Bivens Cypress Creek. Severe lightning activated multiple system devices, causing breakers to open and close, and destroying multiple lightening arrestors installed on BCES distribution lines.
BCES crews worked through the night, restoring power to all but a few customers by 2 a.m. Outages are worked from the substations out, to ensure BCES restores power in the most efficient manner. For example, crews start with primary feeders, move to side road taps, and then on to individual connections.
“I want to praise all the BCES employees who worked hard to restore power in such a timely manner. Being able to work in these conditions safely is a tribute to our continued safety program,” Barnes said. “We owe a special thanks to Buck Carter and his crew for helping us remove trees so we could access certain areas. It truly is a team effort among all these county services when Mother Nature calls.”
