LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As we all brace for the incoming winter weather— energy companies have also been doing the same.
Entergy crews have been hard at work preparing for another round of winter weather in the Natural State.
“We have been actually in storm restoration and storm prep mode for several days now,” said Brandi Hinkle, spokesperson for Entergy. “We restock, we move people and resources around to where we expect that we will need them.”
Hinkle explained that their biggest priority is making sure that the linemen are ready get on the road to respond to any outages.
“Things like chains for the trucks, snow cleats, we have some off-road vehicles that if we need to get into those off-road areas, that rough terrain,” Hinkle described.
Arkansas Electric Cooperative has also been on the same page by working to make sure their crews are available and ready to go.
“We don't know what mother nature is going to do last week, the snowstorm that went through north Arkansas was supposed to be a simple snowstorm, and ended up causing many power outages,” said Rob Roedel, Director of Communications for Arkansas Electric Cooperative.
Roedel explained that to determine if power will be lost, it depends on how much ice there is on trees or power lines.
“In some instances, a weight on the powerlines can get so heavy that it actually snaps the poles and drops a line,” said Roedel.
Cypress and pine are two types of trees tha tare especially susceptible to ice issues because they still have their leaves this time of year.
Though there really isn't much you can do ahead of the storm to avoid ice on your trees, you can at least try to park your car away from them.
“If icing is occurring, understand that three branches can break and fall. So just be mindful of that to our linemen have to make double shear without restoring power to watch out for those heavy branches,” said Roedel.
Both companies explained that if your power does go out— be sure to report it.
People are also urged to be patient, avoid going near trees with large branches and never approach downed power lines.