VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WAWV/WTWO) — Duke Energy officials say the storm that ripped through Indiana on June 29 proved to be one of the most devastating storms to ever hit Duke Energy’s Indiana system.
April Edwards, Area Operations Director for Duke Energy, compared this storm to the remnants of hurricane Ike that brought damaging winds to central Indiana.
“Only during hurricane Ike, in 2008, have we seen more damage,” Edwards said.
That damage and destruction mounted as storms continued for several days, causing 330,000 power outages on the Indiana system, damaging 150 miles of power lines and more than 200 utility poles.
“We’re actually going to send teams out today to kind of sweep the area to see if we have any damage that is remaining that we’re unaware of,” Edwards said.
Rick Burger, Community Relations Manager at Duke Energy, said the community showed up. Locally, he expressed gratitude to Vigo County School Corporation and the Terre Haute Regional Airport for providing station locations for operations. He also thanked both Indiana State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for providing dorm rooms for workers brought to the area. Then Burger thanked the Duke employees and the community.
“Thank you for being patient with us,” Burger said. “I promise you we worked hard and safe all the way through this.”
Leaders at Duke have planned a debriefing to go over their response.
“Leadership is already planning a debrief and a review of what went well, what we could’ve done a little better and we’ll look at that data and assess and determine how we need to check and adjust moving forward,” Edwards said.
Meanwhile city and county leaders continue working behind the scenes. Vigo County Commissioner, Chris Switzer recalled the moments after the storm.
“As soon as the storm happened, we knew as soon as we got to assess that this was a lot more that we had anticipated,” Switzer said.
That’s when commissioners established an emergency proclamation, something Switzer said is an important part of the process that could make state and federal assistance available if possible.
“We mainly did that for one, the governor will recognize it and the state of Indiana will recognize it. Two, to try to keep people off the road,” Switzer said.
The emergency proclamation ended Thursday, July 6 at 7:00 PM
Thursday morning, Terre Haute Mayor, Duke Bennett and Vigo County Commissioners met with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS), another step in the process.
“We met with them (IDHS) today and we’re just going to move forward over the next couple of days and see what that process looks like,”
City and county leaders as well as the IDHS are encouraging residents and businesses to report any damage including loss of power using Indiana 211. Switzer said, it’s a lengthy process but commissioners will receive that data.
In a press release, IDHS says they will collect the total damages to determine eligible assistance programs.
“The great thing is, we have a great relationship with the governor. Tyler, his liaison, to the county commissioners is wonderful. We were in contact with him every single day throughout the storm. Asking what we can do, what help can we receive,” Switzer said. It’s all part of the process. In the instance of a tornado in Sullivan, that’s a little bit different that a power outage in Vigo County.”
Switzer said after Thursday’s meeting with the IDHS city and county leaders now wait out the process. They hope to learn more in the coming days and after the Governor councils meeting Monday, July 10.
