Utility crews hurry to reconnect thousands without power

Font Size:

By Kurt Allemeier | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:04 PM CDT | () comments

Mid-American Energy lineman Zane Person keeps an eye on fellow lineman Don Easterla and Rick Bivens, apprentice lineman, as they work to restore power in the neighborhood near 1st Street and 19th Avenue, Moline. (Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

A woman knocked on the MidAmerican Energy pickup truck’s window, while overhead, Fred Sundeen’s crew members fought with a fuse on a utility pole.

Sundeen and the three members of his crew were about halfway through their 16-hour shift Wednesday — their third since Monday’s storm knocked out power to 65 percent of the company’s customers in the Illinois Quad-Cities.

In the storm’s wake, Sundeen balances customer service with supervising the crew’s work. He has a map of the circuit they are repairing. It runs from 7th Street in Moline to 38th Street in Rock Island. The crew follows a prioritized work list to restore power to customers on the circuit.

The woman who rapped on his window wanted to know when a crew will clear a tree off the line near her house. He listened patiently, provided an explanation and climbed back into his truck. Employees take a class for “ambassadorship.”

“We’ve had plenty of extra customers lately,” Sundeen said. “You just have to listen to the gripes and go from there.”

Most of the storm victims are appreciative. Crews occasionally get applause from residents when their power is restored.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent will drive by and thank us,” Sundeen said. “Most customers are glad you are there.”

Most MidAmerican customers in the Illinois Quad-Cities should have power restored by late Thursday, with isolated problems repaired by late Friday, MidAmerican spokeswoman Ann Thelen said Wednesday. Most Iowa customers were expected to have power restored by early Thursday.

About 1,000 electrical workers are in the Quad-Cities, toiling to restore power. MidAmerican has about 100 crews working along with crews from other companies.

“I think every contract resource we have is in the Quad-Cities,” Thelen said.

Sundeen, a 38-year veteran of MidAmerican who will retire in October, is amazed by the devastation he sees.

“This is the most massive damage I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Sundeen and his crew even worked a little longer than 16 hours one day this week.

“We went a little bit long to get a big line of customers on line,” he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, repairing a fuse on a utility pole at 1st Street A and 23rd Avenue took longer than expected to complete. Don Easterla and Rick Bivens, decked out in rubber sleeves and rubber gloves, worked from buckets to get the fuse to fit properly. A third crew member, Zane Person, watched from the ground.

The electrical workers approach each job as though the line is “hot” with electrical current.

“Safety is our No. 1 factor — not only for us, but for the public,” Sundeen said. “You can always spare the one extra minute.”

The crew leader’s repair list for Wednesday started with one that restored power to 124 customers. By mid-afternoon, the priorities trickled down from jobs that would put 97 customers back in the light to those repairs that would bring power to single customers.

“We have a bunch of ones,” Sundeen said.

Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com.