Utilities so far escape deep freeze unscathed

Jan 7 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ronnie Thomas The Decatur Daily, Ala.

Utilities around the Tennessee Valley managed to escape the deep freeze relatively unscathed heading into anticipated record lows Monday night.

The region took shelter from single-digit temperatures while officials checked roads for icy spots, some libraries and senior centers closed and some flights were delayed or canceled. But as of late Monday, utilities services in Athens, Decatur, Hartselle and Moulton had not faced major problems.

The record low of 10 was set in 1959, National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Carcione said. He said the Tennessee Valley won't thaw until mid-Wednesday, when the thermometer should reach highs in the upper 30s to 40.

Athens Utilities General Manager Gary Scroggins said the system set a new peak Monday morning about 10 a.m. of 305 megawatts, erasing the previous record of 291 megawatts set in December 2010.

"We will almost certainly set a new peak this morning," he said. "Surprisingly, we've had very few outages. We've had maybe five transformers go out during the last 24 hours because of the load, but those usually affect only about three or four customers each. We just have to replace them and move on."

Scroggins cautions customers that if the power goes out, don't turn all appliances back on at once when it returns.

"If everyone's heat and all other appliances come on at the same time, you'll trip a circuit breaker and (the power) goes out again," he said.

Turn off the large loads -- the heat and stove -- and leave "enough lights on to know everything is back on, then start adding loads gradually," he said. "For an hour, don't run any more than you have to."

Scroggins said late Monday that "everything is quiet now, and we don't expect any problems. But we'll have people standing by all night here at the office in case there is."

Decatur Utilities General Manager Ray Hardin said Decatur had no concerns or problems with gas, electricity, water or sewer.

"We've been in contact with TVA, and their system is secure and stable," Hardin said. "We're not going to hit a peak because typically it takes a hot summer day for us to approach a peak. Cold weather demand doesn't generally cause us to reach our peak demand."

Hardin said the utility has extra personnel on call. He recommended customers not use appliances for warmth if they weren't designed for it.

"We do see people trying to heat their home with their kitchen stove," he said. "It seems unusual, but it happens. People use a gas cook-top on their stove, try to warm the space, lose track of time and walk away. It's an easy fire hazard."

Hartselle Utilities General Manager Bob Sittason said the city did not envision problems.

"We'll soon get a break in the weather that will reduce our gas load," he said.

Sittason said the city could have water main issues later this week when the ground begins to thaw.

"The ground shifts quicker when it warms up, and it looks as if we're going to get an especially quick warm-up Wednesday and Thursday," he said.

Moulton City Clerk Shirley Gilley said gas superintendent Mike Hand and water superintendent Greg Dutton also are concerned about problems occurring when the ground begins to thaw.

"We have not had any problems at this point," Gilley said. "We're just keeping our fingers crossed."

Joe Wheeler Electric Membership Corp. spokeswoman Mandi Phillips said the utility had no outages. Moulton gets its power from JWEMC.

"But with everyone running heaters, space heaters and electronics in their houses, there could be an overload of the circuits," Phillips said. "We suggest people keep off all non-essential electronics since everyone will be running their heat at full capacity."

Decatur police reported no wrecks attributed to the weather overnight Sunday, when wind chills hit subzero. State troopers also reported no weather-related crashes in Morgan, Lawrence and Limestone counties.

Decatur police spokesman Lt. John Crouch said while ice formed in small spots where water froze, there was no accumulation of snow on the roads.

Public works crews spread sand in the icy areas.

The NWS in Huntsville said wind chills went as low as minus 7.

Staff writers Bayne Hughes, Leah Cayson, Deangelo McDaniel, Cody Muzio, Meredith Qualls, Seth Burkett and Briana Harris contributed to this article. Ronnie Thomas can be reached at 256-340-2438 or rthomas@decaturdaily.com.

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