Above left: Barton County Electric linemen David Engelage and Rodney Onstatt survey a heavily damaged line. Above: Miles of M&A Power transmission lines were destroyed by the ice. Left: Ozark Border's Glen Ward works to clear icy limbs near Dexter. Below: Moving lines off roads kept Ozark Border Eastern Area Supervisor Keith Stoelting busy for days. into place. These machines were a great asset in the cooperative's heavily timbered service area, going where trucks could not. They are now widely used across Missouri. When M&A Power repaired its lines, it added special storm structures every 5 to 7 miles. This will prevent the cascading damage that caused problems in 2009. As poles are routinely replaced the transmission co-op now is using steel structures that will support more weight than wood. More material is kept on hand and annual table-top drills solve potential problems before they happen. "We are still working on things to harden the system," Daryl says. "I've got to believe if the ice storm had not happened we wouldn't be doing some of the things we are doing now. It changed the way we think. The lessons learned continue, they don't just stop when you get the last pole up." The disaster also led to closer working relations between Missouri's electric cooperatives and the Missouri National Guard. Not long after the ice melted, the cooperatives and the Guard signed a unique agreement that will allow the state's electric co-ops to use Guard armories to house linemen during major outages. The cooperatives reciprocated by wiring armories across the state so that they can easily be powered with back-up generators. A statewide electric cooperative outage map created after the storm now shows emergency personnel the big picture so resources can be better allocated. Missouri's electric cooperatives are better prepared for the logistics of feeding, housing and doing the laundry for large numbers of workers. They also have finetuned the mutual assistance process so that one call to the statewide office in Jefferson City speeds assistance to those in need. "There's been a lot of lessons learned for all the co-ops out of this," Daryl says. "The whole system is getting smarter and better prepared in the event something like this happens in the future." "A Winter's Wrath" is a 60-page, hardcover look back at the ice storm of 2009 by Rural Missouri Editor Jim McCarty. Order your copy today by calling 573-659-3423 or by visiting www.ruralmissouri.org/merchandise.php.http://www.ruralmissouri.org/merchandise.php