CORE Electric Cooperative talks preparations for potential outages

TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO)- With more snow potentially on the way, Woodland Park residents and utility crews are bracing for additional power outages and preparing for another round of disruptive winter weather.

Heavy wet snow caused widespread power outages in Woodland Park on Thursday morning, April 30. The outages affected hundreds of Black Hills Energy and Core Electric Cooperative customers and caused a local City Market store to turn away customers.

Core Power Cooperative tells KRDO13 that a transmission line issue was responsible for the main power loss, attributing it to the inclement weather.

The energy provider, Core Electric Cooperative, says Woodland Park lost power around 8 a.m. due to the issue. The heavy, wet snow accumulated on power lines, leading to lines sagging and causing the outages, the energy group said.

"There was a period of time where Woodland Park was out. That was due to a transmission line issue. But that was restored relatively quickly this morning," explained Amber King, CORE Electric Cooperative.

King says the transmission line is run by Xcel. KRDO13 reached out to Xcel for comment and has not received a statement at the time of publication.

"The transmission lines are the larger power lines that bring larger amounts of electricity to an area. This transmission line was actually, it's owned and operated by Xcel Energy, and that's where CORE then gets the power and distributes it out to our members. So that was kind of a unique circumstance, that Xcel worked on very quickly and got that restored," shared King.

King says CORE crews will be on standby throughout the night and into the morning to respond to any new outages. The energy provider advises residents to charge their electronic devices and have necessary supplies ready in anticipation of further weather impacts. If you have an outage in your area, the group says you can report it here.

CORE also reminds homeowners that if they see a downed power line, they should contact the energy group so they can handle it.

Separately, Black Hills Energy reported an outage that affected 353 customers. All Black Hills Energy customers had their power restored by 5:20 a.m., the energy group said, after crews patrolled the lines in the early morning to locate and repair the issue.

Woodland Park resident Stuart Schantz and his family were among the people stocking up, getting ready for the storm.

Schantz recommends drivers exercise caution on the roadways when any leftover moisture starts to freeze, causing slick conditions. Schantz also shared his method to prevent further damage to trees.

"This is maybe one of those storms, but two consecutive in the next couple of days. One weighs down the trees. The next one just breaks it. And it's just it's worse than it could be. The next one just breaks it. And it's just it's worse than it could be. So I use this [stick] to just beat the trees down, and it's fun when there's somebody next to you, they get all snowed on," Schantz said.

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