Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. I'm Tony Cruz News Radio A forty wha
s with Joe Arnold who joined us this morning. He's
the vice president of strategic Communications with the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.
And Joe, first of all, thanks for answering my call
on Saturday or at least, and thankful that you are
(00:20):
well safe. Well you're here in Louisville, of course, but
what have you all ascertained with the damage that we've
seen both in western Kentucky and obviously they're in eastern Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, first off, I thought this a shout out to
iHeartMedia and what you were doing for that whole area
as far as the simulcasting and getting the word out.
So that was great and I appreciated being able to
say a few words, you know, on that day. It
is because of the developing nature of the emergency, and
it is the disaster, I mean, it really is. It's
just terrible and we have you know call as you know,
(00:53):
I'm with the association with supports all the co ops
across the state. Each of those are locally owned by
their local members in the area. For instance, in Somerset,
South Kentucky ARICC. That's where their offices are there in
Pulaski County. And then we have a neighboring co op
and Jackson Energy in Laurel County. So the epicenter of
the worst of it, you know where that's our two
(01:16):
of our co ops and they are, you know, they're
doing as best they can. But I will tell you
that this is probably the worst damage ever to a
co op headquarters. We have actually in Somerset, South Kentucky, ARICC.
The tornadoes took a direct hit and so the offices
are pretty much destroyed. The warehouse took a hit. They
(01:37):
they're able to access that thankfully, the garage where the
trucks are kept to be able to help restore power.
They were able to get those trucks out of there
and serve. So it's been a very arduous process and
a very painful one for them. Obviously they're thinking about
their members first, people out of power. But it is
it brings it really home when when the co op itself,
(01:57):
when the utility itself takes a direct hit.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, I can't imagine, you know what that would be
like for those people. What about people online? Do you
know of are a lot of people still without power
there in Scent and Laurel County.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, and well the odd thing is are the you
know this is that's one of the things that took
a hit was the outage reporting system. I mean they
were not able. They were I'm not saying flying blind,
but they were doing the best they can, using old
school techniques to be able to determine where things were
going on. Ultimately just asking people to call in and
report the outages. We believe this morning because due to
(02:34):
some of the outage reporting that we have, they're down
to about five thousand co op members who are out
of power in South Kentucky, in that and their service territory,
which is mainly Pulaski County and those surrounding counties there.
Jackson Energy about one thousand right now. At the height
of the power outages among the co ops specifically, about
one hundred and twenty thousand co op members were out
(02:55):
of power I know, statewide. When you add the other
utilities in there, it was probably close to two hundred thousand.
So a big chunk of those were in our rural
electric cooperative territory. And you know, thankfully I should point
out by the way and here I'm focusing on those
those two co ops and the epicenter of the tornado,
but really this was a widespread event across the entire state.
(03:15):
We had Warren Rural Electric and Bowling Green that had
you know, probably about twenty thousand members out for a time.
Pennywyle is in Hopkinsville, that's in that area there. Christian County,
Todd County were affected. I mean it was, it was
throughout the entire state. But a quick shout out if
I could for the mutual aid crews that came in
(03:37):
from neighboring co ops in Kentucky, the ones who were
able to get things taken care of immediately. We also
have a big cohort of co ops that are up
from Georgia who are working on this as well. And
these are co ops that we have gone down to
help after hurricanes and other issues that they've had there.
We know each other, you know, these are some when
the guys come in, they pretty much know, you know
the other a linement. It's almost like a you know,
(03:59):
old homeweek, if you will. It's terrible they have to
go through a disaster to experience that. But the good
news is we've worked alongside before. We have a great relationship.
We operate on the same kind of equipment, and they're
able to jump right in and be able to restore
power almost immediately.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Plaski County is I'm tracking through power outage. Dot US
has about two six hundred and forty six people and
it's mostly served, as I understand it, by the cooperative.
But there what's the other agency? Would it be LGNE
or something of that nature.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
KU, which is part of LGKU Kentucky Utilities. There are yeah,
there's roughly to your point, about maybe forty one forty
two thousand overall customers as they would call it on
there quick we call the members because they actually own
the utility. When it comes to the co op, about
thirty thousand of those are our members of the co
op and about maybe twelve thousand of those are customers
(04:54):
of KU.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Indeed. All right, so you know we've done. My mother
in law is about less than a quarter of a
mile from one of those tornadoes. Thankfully she was okay,
and so it was just but then when I started
seeing all of the things, particularly the flyovers, it's just amazing,
and as you've pointed out, particularly in certain regions of
(05:18):
eastern Kentucky, you know, with rolling hills and everything else,
in a lot of farm land and a lot of
places that are hard to you know, just put telephone
PUBU telephone polls up. Willy Nilly. I mean, it's it's
gonna be some real work for some folks, or power line,
I should say back.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
But and to your point, Tony, you're exactly right. Is
and it's not just a matter that there's certainly the
terrain does have an impact on some of the areas
you're serving. Of course, the Pulaski is not really in
the mountains there. But at the same time, it's anytime
you have a power out of restoration, you're gonna obviously
there's there's a certain pecking orders, a priority of triage
(05:58):
that's evolved there. Number one is going to be the
most critical services, hospitals, nursing homes, the people who are
the most vulnerable. And then after that you're going to
be looking at, you know, what is the most number
of people we can get in by restoring a certain outage.
But the people who will tell you who are at
the very end of the line. And this is the whole,
the whole nature of a rural electric cooperative is you know,
(06:20):
we serve the areas that nobody else would you know,
the most, the farthest outposts, the ones at the very
literal end of the line, are the ones that the
co ops is going to take care of. Well, if
you're if maybe has only have a handful of homes
or you know one or two farmhouses that are on that,
you're going to have a longer outage period typically than
(06:41):
those who are in a more densely popular area, because
we're going to try to take care of as many
people as we can. I say, we meet our co ops,
you know, as on the first part of that. So
that means when these kinds of things happen. I mean,
for instance, I can go to you know, Salt River
Electric in just south of Louisville, you know in Nelson
and Bull, etc. They have four members who are still
(07:02):
out in Salt River Electric this morning. They still matter.
And sometimes I should point out, when you're down to
single digits, it could be a situation where you can't
even restore power to an area that's too damaged. But
my point being is there's always going to be somebody
who's the last person right at the end of the line.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, indeed, I understand that, Joe. Appreciate your time this morning,
and thanks for taking us some time for all the
good folks there around Pulaski County and Laurel County there
on our five iHeartRadio stations down in that area. Appreciate
your time.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I'm keeping you but fifteen seconds, and that is this.
We always have injuries or even depths, and we had
one in Russell County unfortunately by somebody with carbon monoxide poisoning. Please,
if you're using a generator gas powered file A specs,
keep it away from your home and please be safe.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Thank you many appreciate it. Joe, thanks so much. As
Joe Arnold with the Kentucky Collective Cooperative here on News
Radio A forty whas always appreciate Joe and always coming
in with that response whenever we have these these situations,
how you can help. We'll talk it over coming up
next on News Radio eight forty w h A. S.
Good morning. I'm Tony Cruz News Radio A forty wha
s with Joe Arnold who joined us this morning. He's
the vice president of strategic Communications with the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.
And Joe, first of all, thanks for answering my call
on Saturday or at least, and thankful that you are
(00:20):
well safe. Well you're here in Louisville, of course, but
what have you all ascertained with the damage that we've
seen both in western Kentucky and obviously they're in eastern Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, first off, I thought this a shout out to
iHeartMedia and what you were doing for that whole area
as far as the simulcasting and getting the word out.
So that was great and I appreciated being able to
say a few words, you know, on that day. It
is because of the developing nature of the emergency, and
it is the disaster, I mean, it really is. It's
just terrible and we have you know call as you know,
(00:53):
I'm with the association with supports all the co ops
across the state. Each of those are locally owned by
their local members in the area. For instance, in Somerset,
South Kentucky ARICC. That's where their offices are there in
Pulaski County. And then we have a neighboring co op
and Jackson Energy in Laurel County. So the epicenter of
the worst of it, you know where that's our two
(01:16):
of our co ops and they are, you know, they're
doing as best they can. But I will tell you
that this is probably the worst damage ever to a
co op headquarters. We have actually in Somerset, South Kentucky, ARICC.
The tornadoes took a direct hit and so the offices
are pretty much destroyed. The warehouse took a hit. They
(01:37):
they're able to access that thankfully, the garage where the
trucks are kept to be able to help restore power.
They were able to get those trucks out of there
and serve. So it's been a very arduous process and
a very painful one for them. Obviously they're thinking about
their members first, people out of power. But it is
it brings it really home when when the co op itself,
(01:57):
when the utility itself takes a direct hit.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, I can't imagine, you know what that would be
like for those people. What about people online? Do you
know of are a lot of people still without power
there in Scent and Laurel County.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, and well the odd thing is are the you
know this is that's one of the things that took
a hit was the outage reporting system. I mean they
were not able. They were I'm not saying flying blind,
but they were doing the best they can, using old
school techniques to be able to determine where things were
going on. Ultimately just asking people to call in and
report the outages. We believe this morning because due to
(02:34):
some of the outage reporting that we have, they're down
to about five thousand co op members who are out
of power in South Kentucky, in that and their service territory,
which is mainly Pulaski County and those surrounding counties there.
Jackson Energy about one thousand right now. At the height
of the power outages among the co ops specifically, about
one hundred and twenty thousand co op members were out
(02:55):
of power I know, statewide. When you add the other
utilities in there, it was probably close to two hundred thousand.
So a big chunk of those were in our rural
electric cooperative territory. And you know, thankfully I should point
out by the way and here I'm focusing on those
those two co ops and the epicenter of the tornado,
but really this was a widespread event across the entire state.
(03:15):
We had Warren Rural Electric and Bowling Green that had
you know, probably about twenty thousand members out for a time.
Pennywyle is in Hopkinsville, that's in that area there. Christian County,
Todd County were affected. I mean it was, it was
throughout the entire state. But a quick shout out if
I could for the mutual aid crews that came in
(03:37):
from neighboring co ops in Kentucky, the ones who were
able to get things taken care of immediately. We also
have a big cohort of co ops that are up
from Georgia who are working on this as well. And
these are co ops that we have gone down to
help after hurricanes and other issues that they've had there.
We know each other, you know, these are some when
the guys come in, they pretty much know, you know
the other a linement. It's almost like a you know,
(03:59):
old homeweek, if you will. It's terrible they have to
go through a disaster to experience that. But the good
news is we've worked alongside before. We have a great relationship.
We operate on the same kind of equipment, and they're
able to jump right in and be able to restore
power almost immediately.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Plaski County is I'm tracking through power outage. Dot US
has about two six hundred and forty six people and
it's mostly served, as I understand it, by the cooperative.
But there what's the other agency? Would it be LGNE
or something of that nature.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
KU, which is part of LGKU Kentucky Utilities. There are yeah,
there's roughly to your point, about maybe forty one forty
two thousand overall customers as they would call it on
there quick we call the members because they actually own
the utility. When it comes to the co op, about
thirty thousand of those are our members of the co
op and about maybe twelve thousand of those are customers
(04:54):
of KU.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Indeed. All right, so you know we've done. My mother
in law is about less than a quarter of a
mile from one of those tornadoes. Thankfully she was okay,
and so it was just but then when I started
seeing all of the things, particularly the flyovers, it's just amazing,
and as you've pointed out, particularly in certain regions of
(05:18):
eastern Kentucky, you know, with rolling hills and everything else,
in a lot of farm land and a lot of
places that are hard to you know, just put telephone
PUBU telephone polls up. Willy Nilly. I mean, it's it's
gonna be some real work for some folks, or power line,
I should say back.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
But and to your point, Tony, you're exactly right. Is
and it's not just a matter that there's certainly the
terrain does have an impact on some of the areas
you're serving. Of course, the Pulaski is not really in
the mountains there. But at the same time, it's anytime
you have a power out of restoration, you're gonna obviously
there's there's a certain pecking orders, a priority of triage
(05:58):
that's evolved there. Number one is going to be the
most critical services, hospitals, nursing homes, the people who are
the most vulnerable. And then after that you're going to
be looking at, you know, what is the most number
of people we can get in by restoring a certain outage.
But the people who will tell you who are at
the very end of the line. And this is the whole,
the whole nature of a rural electric cooperative is you know,
(06:20):
we serve the areas that nobody else would you know,
the most, the farthest outposts, the ones at the very
literal end of the line, are the ones that the
co ops is going to take care of. Well, if
you're if maybe has only have a handful of homes
or you know one or two farmhouses that are on that,
you're going to have a longer outage period typically than
(06:41):
those who are in a more densely popular area, because
we're going to try to take care of as many
people as we can. I say, we meet our co ops,
you know, as on the first part of that. So
that means when these kinds of things happen. I mean,
for instance, I can go to you know, Salt River
Electric in just south of Louisville, you know in Nelson
and Bull, etc. They have four members who are still
(07:02):
out in Salt River Electric this morning. They still matter.
And sometimes I should point out, when you're down to
single digits, it could be a situation where you can't
even restore power to an area that's too damaged. But
my point being is there's always going to be somebody
who's the last person right at the end of the line.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, indeed, I understand that, Joe. Appreciate your time this morning,
and thanks for taking us some time for all the
good folks there around Pulaski County and Laurel County there
on our five iHeartRadio stations down in that area. Appreciate
your time.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I'm keeping you but fifteen seconds, and that is this.
We always have injuries or even depths, and we had
one in Russell County unfortunately by somebody with carbon monoxide poisoning. Please,
if you're using a generator gas powered file A specs,
keep it away from your home and please be safe.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Thank you many appreciate it. Joe, thanks so much. As
Joe Arnold with the Kentucky Collective Cooperative here on News
Radio A forty whas always appreciate Joe and always coming
in with that response whenever we have these these situations,
how you can help. We'll talk it over coming up
next on News Radio eight forty w h A. S.
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