Late May’s extended severe weather event has taken its toll on north central Oklahoma. While we are nearing the end of the traditional severe weather season, the effects of heavy rainfall and flooding are still being felt.

“Some places in our service territory have received nearly 20 inches of rain over the last few weeks making it difficult for our crews to respond to outages, build new construction and do service upgrades,” says Hunter Robinson, CEO of Central Electric Cooperative.

Robinson added that the extended forecast doesn’t look promising to help dry out our saturated soil or allow county and city crews to fix bridges and roads to help improve access into areas.

“We continue to have new request coming in which is great,” Robinson said. “However the workload continues to increase while the rain is causing production to decrease which is causing a bigger backlog than normal for our crews.”

According to Weather.com the jet-stream pattern responsible for recent severe weather and heavy rain is changing that will bring drier weather into the area, however scattered thunderstorms are continued in the forecast through much of next week. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center has highlighted parts of the plains with higher changes of above average precipitation in the 6- to 10-day outlook.  The Weather Prediction Center has also circled our region with a threat for heavy rainfall for the first week of June.

While it is not expected next week’s weather will be a repeat of late May it is likely to create localized flash flooding and extend the time to dry out the soil so crews can begin working on construction.

“Construction timelines will likely be delayed by 2 to 3 weeks and if more rain comes next week it may add to that timeline,” Robinson said. “We appreciate the patience and understanding of our members who are affected and we will work as quickly as possible to catch up on all requests as the ground dries out.”

Robinson urges members with any questions or concerns about construction timeline or services upgrades to call Central’s offices at 405-372-2884 or stop by our main office.

Headquartered in Stillwater, Central Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit electric cooperative that serves approximately 20,000 members in seven central Oklahoma counties.