MidAmerican Energy sends added crews to Eastern Iowa for winter weather

Crews with MidAmerican Energy have been dispatched to the Quad Cities area to address ice that has accumulated on power lines and trees this week.

According to a Tuesday news release, the additional crews are being sent in anticipation of winter weather. Recent weather conditions caused some isolated outages, but wind expected this week could cause more significant impacts.

'When ice accumulates on power lines and the wind increases, that can cause a phenomenon we call galloping. That's what happens when wind pushes on the lines and lifts them up, in essence causing them to gallop or jump up and down,” Jim Dougherty, vice president of electric operations, said in the release. 'We're also concerned about ice-covered limbs that can fall onto our lines and equipment.”

The additional crews were dispatched from Iowa City, Waterloo and Des Moines.

l Comments: (319) 398-8309; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com