BY CATHY CASH
The epic Gulf Coast Blizzard of 2025 smothered New Orleans and surrounding communities in 10 inches of snow, but that’s just one of many recent weird weather phenomena.
“Tornado alley” is widening from the Great Plains into the Deep South. Wildfires are no longer just a western worry but now are spreading smoke and destruction into the Midwest and Southeast.
As storm season comes, you might wonder what your electric co-op is doing to keep the lights on with Mother Nature’s shifting paradigm. The short answer is: plenty.
“Electric co-ops are experiencing more extreme weather events all across the country and are busy preparing, planning and forecasting differently than they have in the past,” said Jennah Denney, senior program manager of technology integration at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
“Even co-ops who’ve yet to see unprecedented events, like the winter storms that hit Louisiana and Texas or the hurricanes ravaging parts of the Tennessee Valley, are definitely trying to limit how much of their system goes down and to restore power as fast as they can using automation, technologies and outage data.”
Technology offers earlier warnings
New sensors and weather-risk tools are giving co-ops early warning and situational awareness of threats like wildfires. Co-ops also use historical outage data to develop intelligent weather models that forecast potential crisis spots in their service territory.
“Co-ops are winterizing equipment in places like Arkansas and Louisiana that may not have had to winterize equipment before,” said Denney.
Automated sensors, communications systems and data analytics allow co-ops to monitor their generation, power lines and other vital equipment in real-time.
Drones are being equipped with AI-trained cameras to scan electric distribution system equipment and highlight potential weak spots if severe weather rolls in. Co-ops are also updating their maintenance and vegetation management plans using drone cameras or satellite imagery.
Strengthening systems before the storm
Co-ops continue to replace aging wooden poles with steel and underground lines where it’s cost-effective and environmentally sound to combat destruction from wind, floods and wildfires.
Then there’s co-ops’ real superpower: mutual aid.
Mutual aid: the co-op advantage
In the wake of the worst disasters, co-op crews volunteer to rise at any hour on any day to travel hundreds of miles to help rebuild another co-op’s power lines and restore electricity to members, often in treacherous conditions.
“Mutual aid, grounded in the foundational principle of cooperation among co-ops, is one of the best stories we have in co-op land,” said Denney. “As a co-op and a co-op member, you get help from faraway places during these crisis events.”
Co-ops work hard to get mutual aid agreements and their logistics – from meals to laundry and lodging for the arriving crews – in place in advance of storm seasons.
The mission could take weeks and thousands of co-op lineworkers, like when horrific Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, then roared up into the Carolinas’ rural mountain communities in September 2024.
And there’s no limit to the help a co-op can receive. Co-ops southwest of Houston welcomed mutual aid crews from outside Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, just three years after volunteer lineworkers answered the call when deadly Winter Storm Yuri shocked the state.
“That’s a great story of cooperation among cooperatives,” said Denney, who last winter witnessed co-op bucket trucks from Indiana coming to New Orleans’ aid. “As co-ops experience more of these extreme weather events, the history and tradition of co-ops helping co-ops is going to be even more important.”
In and of itself, a co-op is an exceptional tool for surviving unexpected catastrophes.
“The co-op model lends itself to making sure that one area served by a rural electric co-op has the resources of our shared network,” she said. “Willing to lend that helping hand is important as we all are navigating new weather patterns and weather events.”
Cathy Cash writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
IOWA CO-OPS RESPOND TO SEVERE WEATHER AT HOME AND AWAY
BY ANN FOSTER THELEN
Iowa’s electric cooperatives are no strangers to extreme weather. From derechos and ice storms to tornadoes and flooding, co-ops across the state regularly prepare for and respond to major disruptions that can damage miles of power lines and hundreds of poles.
The August 2020 derecho remains one of the most destructive weather events in Iowa’s history, toppling poles, snapping trees and leaving widespread outages across the state.
More recently, severe weather again tested Iowa’s rural electric systems. In May 2024, a powerful tornado struck the Greenfield area, damaging homes, farms and electric infrastructure. Less than a year later, winter storms in early 2025 brought heavy ice, snow and strong winds that damaged power infrastructure in parts of northwest Iowa.
In each situation, electric cooperatives mobilized quickly, repairing infrastructure and restoring power to rural homes, farms and businesses with mutual aid assistance. Cooperatives across the state coordinate storm response and share resources through the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, which helps organize mutual aid and support during large-scale outages.
Iowa lineworkers also regularly travel to other states to help fellow cooperatives recover after major weather events. For Iowa’s rural communities, that spirit of cooperation ensures that when severe weather strikes, help is never far away.
Ann Foster Thelen is the editor of Iowa Electric Cooperative Living magazine.
