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Transmission towers flattened by EF4 tornado
Eleven of Basin Electric’s steel transmission towers north of Bowdle, SD, were destroyed by a tornado on May 22.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative - May 27, 2010
Eleven of Basin Electric’s steel transmission towers north of Bowdle, SD, were destroyed by a tornado on May 22. The tornado, rated by the National Weather Service as an EF4, flattened nine towers, took one completely off its foundation, and broke another in half. According to the weather service, an EF4 tornado has winds between 166 and 200 mph.
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The towers are located along a three-mile stretch of the 345-kilovolt line that carries electricity from Basin Electric’s Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, ND, to the Broadland substation near Huron, SD. The tornado damage lies between two sections of the same line that were damaged in the January ice storm.
Bryan Keller, Basin Electric manager of Transmission System Maintenance (TSM), says crews from TSM’s eight outposts in four states have been called in to assist with the recovery efforts. “One of our biggest challenges will be dealing with the muddy conditions. What wasn’t already standing wetlands is saturated because of the spring runoff and precipitation,” he said.
Keller said repairs will take about four weeks to complete, weather permitting, and cost approximately $1.5 million. “We have the steel on hand to rebuild nine of the 11. The other two are specialized structures that we will replace with temporary structures until we can rebuild them this fall,” he said.
While the line is out of service, electricity is being rerouted through other transmission paths to continue service to member cooperatives. Keller said despite the loss of the major transmission line, Basin Electric has not had to reduce generation from its baseload power plants. “Antelope Valley Station Unit 2 is already off line for a maintenance outage. It also helps that we’re not in heating season, and air conditioning loads haven’t really picked up yet.”
The May 22 tornadoes and severe weather also caused damage at FEM Electric Association of Ipswich and Cam Wal Electric of Selby, according to the South Dakota Rural Electric Association. Cam Wal Electric lost six three-phase poles in eastern Campbell County.
FEM Electric had 110 poles downed in Edmunds and McPherson counties. The cooperative’s system also had wires pulled off the poles – but the poles were left standing – in a newly constructed four-mile stretch of line.
Scott Moore, FEM Electric general manager, said about 830 members were without power following the storm. “Crews were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. Saturday and worked throughout the night with additional crews arriving Sunday morning from Oahe Electric, Northern Electric, Dakota Energy, and Lake Region,” he said.
Moore said the substations were back on by Sunday. All but two members had power restored by Sunday night; the remaining two by the next morning.
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