Over the weekend of January 24, Haywood EMC's service area faced one of the worst ice storms in nearly a decade. Winter Storm Fern, however, did not catch the cooperative or its member-owners off guard. Fern was forecasted and anticipated by meteorologists for well over a week, giving everyone time to prepare for its icy precipitation and howling winds.
As the storm began, the ice and winds blew in, and the trees and branches crashed down. This was especially true along the steep ridges of our Southern District.
From Scaly Mountain to Rosman and beyond, our southernmost communities were hardest hit. Trees, roads, homes, and, most notably, power lines were coated with up to 3/4 inch of ice. The extreme weight of the ice brought widespread power outages and substantial damage to the infrastructure. At the storm's peak, over 12,000 Haywood EMC member-owners were left in the dark.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, January 25, our linemen began their work. Crews cleared hundreds of trees, repaired numerous spans of line, replaced broken poles, and restored two-thirds of all power outages within the first 12 hours of work. The work continued Monday and Tuesday as mutual aid crews joined the restoration efforts from Rutherford EMC. These crews cut miles of downed trees along still frozen lines. Despite the harsh conditions, brutal cold, and biting winds, all power was restored by Wednesday evening.
Haywood EMC is thankful to our member-owners for heeding the call to prepare ahead of Winter Storm Fern. The Cooperative is also thankful for the patience of our members as our crews faced an uphill battle restoring power to everyone during the extreme cold weather.