Co-ops at the ready to meet intensifying weather events
August 2026
In the wake of the worst disasters, co-op crews travel hundreds of miles to help rebuild another co-op’s power lines and restore electricity to members, often in treacherous conditions. (Vecteezy photo)
by Cathy Cash, Contributing Writer
The epic Gulf Coast Blizzard of 2025 blanketed New Orleans and surrounding communities with 10 inches of snow, but that’s just one of many recent weird weather phenomena.
Tornado Alley is widening from the Great Plains into the Deep South. Wildfires are no longer just a Western worry but now are spreading smoke and destruction into the Midwest and Southeast.
When storm season comes, you might wonder what your electric co-op is doing to keep the lights on with Mother Nature’s shifting paradigm. The short answer is: plenty.
“Electric co-ops are experiencing more extreme weather events all across the country and are busy preparing, planning and forecasting differently than they have in the past,” says Jennah Denney, senior program manager of technology integration at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
“Even co-ops that’ve yet to see unprecedented events, like the winter storms that hit Louisiana and Texas or the hurricanes ravaging parts of the Tennessee Valley, are definitely trying to limit how much of their system goes down and to restore power as fast as they can using automation, technologies and outage data,” she says.
EARLIER WARNINGS
New sensors and weather-risk tools give co-ops early warning and situational awareness of threats such as wildfires. Co-ops also use historical outage data to develop intelligent weather models that forecast potential crisis spots in their service territory.
“Co-ops are winterizing equipment in places like Arkansas and Louisiana that may not have had to winterize equipment before,” Denney says.
Communications systems, tracking technology and data analytics allow co-ops to monitor their power lines, power generation and other vital equipment in real-time.
Drones equipped with AI-trained cameras can scan electric distribution systems and highlight potential weak spots if severe weather rolls in. And co-ops continue to replace aging wooden poles with steel and underground lines where possible to combat destruction from wind, floods and wildfires.
THE CO-OP ADVANTAGE
Then there’s co-ops’ real superpower: mutual aid.
In the wake of the worst disasters, co-op crews volunteer to rise at any hour on any day to travel hundreds of miles to help rebuild another co-op’s power lines and restore electricity to members, often in treacherous conditions.
“Mutual aid is one of the strongest demonstrations of the cooperative difference,” says JT Jacobs, manager of safety training for the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. “When severe weather impacts a neighboring system, our member cooperatives consistently answer the call with skilled linemen, specialized equipment and a commitment to serving communities beyond their own.”
So far in 2026, 95 mutual aid crews across Virginia have assisted other co-ops in responding to six weather events that left damage in their wake. “That includes everything from ice storms such as Fern and Hernando to severe thunderstorms this summer,” Jacobs says.
But preparation is the key to readiness, so co-ops work hard to get mutual aid agreements and their logistics — from meals to laundry and lodging for the arriving crews — in place before storm seasons.
“While the restoration of electric service is a significant achievement,” Jacobs says, “our greatest measure of success is that every responder returns home safely. This year’s mutual aid efforts currently stand at zero electrical contacts and zero serious injuries, which is a reflection of the professionalism, preparation and safety culture shared across our cooperative network.”
Cathy Cash writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.