TVEC begins storm damage recovery efforts

Press release

Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative crews are in the process of assessing major infrastructure damage caused by reported tornadoes and severe thunderstorms throughout the northern part of our service area.

“Our thoughts and prayers are certainly first and foremost with the people who were in the direct path of these storms,” said General Manager/CEO Jerry Boze. “We are currently in the process of assessing damage and restoring power to the areas that can be restored. We are thinking about those people … friends, family and co-op members who are suffering major losses tonight.”

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As of 8:30 p.m. more than 23,000 TVEC members were without electricity, including more than 7,000 in Henderson County, more than 6,400 in Kaufman County and more than 9,400 in Van Zandt County.

Reported damage has included multiple transmission lines and poles torn down by the storms, as well as miles of distribution lines and poles. Contractors, mutual aid crews, TVEC Line crews and engineers are working to restore power as quickly as possible. Member Service Representatives are on hand to take member calls and address concerns. Some home owners are looking for hail damage repair.

While damage assessments are incomplete at this time, it appears that restoration of power could take up to several days in the hardest hit areas. Crews will re-route power as much as possible, but in some places several miles of line will have to be rebuilt.

“This may rank as one of the most destructive storms we have seen,” said Chief Communications Officer Jeff Lane “It is too early to give an estimate of when power will be restored to everyone, but you can be assured that all of our resources have been mobilized to get everyone back on as soon as it is possible to safely do so.”
TVEC Members should report power outages to 800-967-9324.

Additional updates regarding power restoration will be posted to social media (Facebook and Twitter) and at tvec.net as they become available.