A second wave of severe thunderstorms in less than 48 hours affected electric service for 5,600 Lake Country Power members, as of 4:30 a.m., Monday, June 23. This storm follows Saturday’s tornado warnings and storm that impacted more than 7,000 co-op members. Most of the weekend’s outages were restored by late Sunday night.

Line crews were immediately dispatched early Monday morning, but it’s too early to know the full extent of the damages as crews work their way through each impacted area.

Currently, Lake Country Power line crews are working to restore service affecting members, primarily impacting the southeastern locations of Lake Country Power’s service area, such as Big Sandy Lake, Cloquet and south of Virginia.

The outages were caused by heavy winds toppling trees on lines early Monday morning. Lightning strikes may be a contributing factor as well. At least seven broken poles have been identified, and there could be more as crews work their way through the debris.

All available crews are working to restore power, including Lake Country Power’s internal construction crews. Lake States Construction is assisting with pole replacements. Crews are also removing significant tree damage off the Peary Substation and Lakeland Substation.

“As a reminder to members and the public, if you see a downed power line, stay away from it and call Lake Country Power to report it immediately,” said Derek Howe, P.E. chief operating officer.

Members may call the cooperative at 1-800-421-9959 to report an outage, or visit the Outage Center online at www.lakecountrypower.coop or

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__outage.lcp.coop&d=DwIDaQ&c=ILNqkSEM8fZHMcUYFdZ1x6CQ9lxWNuCTMwK9anzFChg&r=3CUQuZ0o-SlG4ijrc0f5FFuqWxkhuqR0X-hnZRKawQ4&m=o-OqB_sO-1v4Ioj_jzt_FGscNaxPKwppvdIzLYzwvW1BeRqvtd9-o7a6M4AbUjzd&s=yQEj642gKg3SJicwJPpp2mFjOu_SpzMOq9q-I4e6ZZM&e= for an outage status.