The winter storm that hit Central Alabama Electric Cooperative’s (CAEC) service territory beginning Dec. 8 and into the early morning of Saturday, Dec. 9, caused more than 407 outages and affected approximately 11,000 members in all 10 counties served.

Most outages were due to fallen trees, broken poles and downed lines. More than 100 employees worked to restore power, including crews from Asplundh, Covington Electric Cooperative, Cullman Electric Cooperative, Pea River Electric Cooperative, Pioneer Electric Cooperative, South Alabama Electric Cooperative, Southern Pine Electric Cooperative and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative. All outages from the storm were restored by 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10.

“We have not had an outage this widespread and with this long of a duration in years,” said CAEC President and CEO Tom Stackhouse. “We have high standards for reliability, and take matters like this personally, – doing whatever it takes to get the work done as safely and efficiently as possible. The patience, prayers and understanding of our members were very much appreciated and meant more than they could ever know.”

A county by county breakdown of the number of members without power during this event: Autauga, 3,157; Bibb, 3; Chilton, 2,769; Coosa, 2,348; Dallas, 957; Elmore, 1,004; Lowndes, 21; Perry, 25; Talladega, 421; and Tallapoosa, 226.