Energy Secreatry says coal, nuclear are here to stay — for now

One of the Obama Administration's top energy advisors said recently that coal and nuclear technology will remain a key part in U.S. energy production for at least the rest of this century.

That's pretty big news from a major player, considering all of the talk out of Washington, D.C., in recent months.

If you have not had a chance to check out the Our Energy, Our Future campaign website, here is a link. The idea behind the movement is to make sure your elected officials are asking the important questions that must be answered in the energy crisis/climate change debate.

Co-ops are not opposed to expanding renewable energy sources, but we have to make sure those decisions are being made with a full understanding of the issues. The biggest issue for co-ops is the cost. Unrealistic mandates for production and use could cause prices to skyrocket for consumers, and that is something co-ops do not want to see happen.

Wednesday lunchtime update

The number of members without power is going down, but there is still a lot of work to do. As of noon Wednesday, approximately 520 members were without power. Most of those are in the southwest portion of Cullman County and southeast portion of Winston County, surrounding Smith Lake.

The line crews are blanketing that area, while a few crews are located in other areas of the service territory finishing up other repairs and outages.

All of the biggest outages have been dealt with (one problem = hundreds without power). It's almost to the point where each repair that is made leads to one member having their service restored. We're not quite there yet, but right now, every repair means several streets or a group of houses has power again.

With a little luck, we could have everyone back on before the end of the day.

Tuesday lunchtime update

Outages are down to 2,700 remaining, still concentrated in the southwest service territory, but hundreds scattered all over.

What is a gravity wave???

According to the story in today's edition of The Cullman Times, and reports from media outlets all across the southeastern United States, a weather phenomenon known as a gravity wave is what produced the strong, sustained winds that caused so much damage Sunday night and Monday morning.

So, what exactly is a gravity wave? Here's the best description we could find, although we're not sure it really explains it easily. From what it says, we can assume that the thunderstorms Sunday night are what triggered the gravity wave.

Here is a pretty cool time-lapse video of a gravity wave. This is what we all would have seen in the skies if the gravity wave had occurred during daylight hours.

ONE OTHER NOTE: In talking with our operations staff, they said the damage from this gravity wave is every bit as bad if not worse than what Hurricane Ivan did to this area in September 2004.

Maybe we should start giving names to gravity waves. Just a thought...

Tuesday morning update

As of 10 a.m., approximately 3,900 Cullman EC members were without power.

Outages are still spread all over our service territory. The highest concentration of outages is located in the southwest portion of Cullman County, including the communities of Arkadelphia, Bug Tussle, Bremen, Sulphur Springs and Trade (just to name a few).

More than 50 Cullman EC employees having been working in the field since 5 a.m. They are being assisted by linemen crews from Cullman Power Board Central Alabama Electric Cooperative, as well as contract lineman crews and tree trimming crews.

Many of the remaining 3,900 members should have their electrical service restored today, but for some people, it's going to be at least another day. Just being honest. Due to broken poles and the distance between many of the outages, there just aren't enough hours in the day to make all of the repairs during the next 12-14 hours.

12,000 restored as of 7 p.m.

More than 12,000 of the 17,000 members that were without power caused by Sunday night's thunderstorms and strong wind have power back as of 7 p.m.

There are still approximately 4,900 members without power. Cullman EC's linemen crews will work throughout the night to make repairs. The Cullman Power Board has extended its hand in helping the co-op get everyone back, and several crews from a co-op in Pratville, AL, are scheduled to arrive Tuesday morning to assist as well.

The official press release has now been posted on the Cullman EC web site.

9,000 down and counting...

As of 2 p.m., power has been restored to more than 9,000 of the 17,000 Cullman EC members who were without power following the Sunday night/Monday morning storms.

Making progress...

Outages are down from 17,000 early this morning to under 9,000 as of 11 a.m. We've still got a long way to go, but every available person is out in the field working non-stop to make all the repairs.

Wind causes widespread power outages

Cullman EC's linemen as well as contract crews and tree trimming crews have been working since the early morning hours to restore power to more than 17,000 Cullman EC members. The thunderstorms that moved through North Alabama last night did not cause as much of a problem as the high winds that came behind it.

As of 8:50 a.m., power had been restored to more than 4,000 members. The co-op's operations center is a hectic place right now, with most of the people working having come in during the middle of the night. From what we could tell during our visit, it will be an all-day process to make the repairs.

This picture was taken just before 9 a.m. Monday morning. Every red, green and yellow dot on the map is a power outage that has been reported. Unfortunately, that is the most "colorful" anyone has seen the map in a long time.

Currently our system is showing 340 reported outages. That means there are hundreds of places Cullman EC's linemen have to go all across the country before everyone will have their power restored. Sometimes, making repairs to one outage will restore power for everyone who is out if, for example, the problem is at the substation that supplies an entire area. But high wind usually leads to trees falling or lots of branches touching powerlines, creating lots and lots of small power outages all over the service territory.

We'll provided updates as they come, and hopefully some pictures of the repair work.

Severe weather expected today

We're not sure what will happen this afternoon, but the weathermen and women all across the region and saying things could get pretty rough. The Weather Channel is saying the worst storms along the I-65 corridor in North Alabama will occur between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. this evening.

Check in throughout the afternoon and evening and we'll give weather updates along with any information on outages, locations, damage and anything else we can pass on.

Hope everyone out there stays safe!