Tipmont REMC sends linemen to assist with Virginia winter storm damage

Deanna Watson, Lafayette Journal & Courier
·2 min read

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Lineworkers from Indiana embarked to Virginia Monday after winter storms knocked out power for more than 85,000 customers, left at least five dead and motorists stranded for hours.

Four Tipmont REMC employees are part of a 30-person delegation of workers and equipment headed east to assist with the power-restoration effort in Virginia.

The area’s electric distribution system sustained major damage, Tipmont stated in a release.

Tipmont REMC line workers (from left) Tristen Hoffman, Garret Foutch, Bo Bouwkamp, and Dustin Manns with a Tipmont REMC bucket truck prior to departing for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.
Tipmont REMC line workers (from left) Tristen Hoffman, Garret Foutch, Bo Bouwkamp, and Dustin Manns with a Tipmont REMC bucket truck prior to departing for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.

Monday's storm produced gusty winds causing power outages in parts of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, USA Today reported, citing Weather.com. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses had initially lost electricity in Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas with about 500,000 still without power as of 6 p.m.

Thousands of motorists remained stranded Tuesday morning on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Virginia, near Fredericksburg.

The lineworkers left for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative in Culpeper, Virginia.

Tipmont REMC and other Indiana electric cooperative crew members also assisted with ice storm repairs near Crewe, Virginia, in February 2021, the release stated.

Tipmont REMC joined crews from nine additional Indiana electric cooperatives that responded to the storm: Henry County REMC (New Castle), Heartland REMC (Wabash), Jasper County REMC (Rensselaer), Northeastern REMC (Columbia City), RushShelby Energy (Manilla), South Central Indiana REMC (Martinsville), Southern Indiana Power (Tell City), Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC (Bloomfield), and Whitewater Valley REMC (Liberty).

“Every cooperative in the Indiana Electric Cooperatives family is an integral part of a state and national network of hundreds of fellow cooperatives,” Rob Ford, Tipmont REMC communication director, said in the release.

“We work together and help one another in times of disaster, to make sure our power delivery systems are repaired as quickly, safely, and cost-effectively as possible.

“We take care of emergency needs at home first, but our crews are eager to help those in need,” Ford said. “They take a tremendous amount of pride in representing Tipmont and the state of Indiana. They represent us well with how professionally and safely they work.”

Tipmont REMC is headquartered in Linden, Ind., south of Lafayette, and is governed by a seven-person board.

It is a rural electric membership cooperative providing electric service in eight Indiana counties, including Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Clinton, Carroll, White, Benton and Boone.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Virginia power outages: Tipmont REMC workers helping with storm damage