UPDATE: Repairs to West Kentucky Rural Electrical Cooperative structures briefly alleviated some of the outages around 8:20 a.m. The utility then "lost a circuit out of the Hardin Substation," according to a post on its Facebook page. Currently, there are 19 outages in the WKREC system affecting 7,300 members across Calloway, Graves, Marshall and Hickman counties. The outage is also affecting Calloway County Schools, which have closed for the day due to the power outage.
Electrical outages in the wake of severe weather moving through western Kentucky have left many without electricity due to downed power lines and other structural damage.
West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative reported 43 outages leaving over 9,000 members without power at the outage’s height. A 7 a.m. update said 6,135 members were without power as a result of 35 outages.
“We have brought in all available crews to begin restore service and they are working throughout the service area, starting with the largest outages first, which is the most efficient way to work when damage is widespread,” the utility provider wrote in a social media post.
The post also indicated that the Tennessee Valley Authority had “identified a damaged structure and is mobilizing to make repairs” that would make a big increase in power restoration numbers.
As of 8 a.m., a WKREC map showed 3,311 Calloway County members without power in addition to 1,497 in Graves, 595 general members, 42 in Hickman, and 36 in Marshall.
An estimated time of full power restoration was not given and WKREC will be updating its members via social media throughout the day.
A request for outage information regarding Murray Electric System customers went unanswered.
