Power Companies are seeing improvements in power outages after the ice storm

AYR, N.D., (KVRR)- A storm hit the region over Christmas, causing up to an inch of ice to accumulate in some areas. The ice downed miles of power lines and snapped countless utility poles. Power Crews have been working around the clock since Christmas to help bring back power back to the citizens impacted by the ice storm.

Around 480 Cass County Electric customers were still without power Wednesday morning. At one time, more than 4,600 members were affected.

Dakota Valley crews are also doing their best to return things to normal. Brandon Giesler, Manager of Engineering at Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative, said, “Everybody has been coming in at 7 in the morning and typically working until, you know, the start, it was prolly around 9 or 10 at night. And as its been going along, they’ve been shutting down a little sooner.”

Giesler also said, “But right now I believe we are down to one hundred and thirty some, i haven’t looked in the past hour or so but i believe that is where we are sitting right now.”

Dakota Valley initially had 3200 people without power. In just a week, Dakota Valley was impressed with the teamwork done to pull this off.

Giesler said, “But the amount of progress these guys have been making is crazy. I thought it was going to take a little longer to get it to come to this point. But when you get that many people on the ground, it’s been coming together well.”

Dakota Valley Electric has had at least 100 people on the ground throughout the past week and expects the job to be finished soon.

Cass County Electric updated its power outage numbers tonight: they stand at 209 members.

The majority should be restored by the weekend.