Thousands of Kentuckians are still without electricity after Hurricane Helene’s remnants swept through the state Friday. Joe Arnold is a spokesman for Kentucky Electrical Cooperatives, which has 26 member co-ops serving a total of 1.8 million customers in every county but three. He said restoring power has been an “all hands on deck” experience since Friday. “Every local co-op has taken care of their own needs first, but then once they’ve assessed those and been able to complete their own repairs, then they can deploy crews elsewhere. So currently we have more than 10 co-ops from mainly Western and Central Kentucky that have gone into Eastern Kentucky, where the biggest damage remains.” Arnold said more than 100 linemen from co-ops are helping contractors get the lights back on, but it’s not easy getting to some areas, especially in Appalachia, where large trees snapped power lines. “It’s not only a matter of fixing the poles. You have to get to them. And that has been really one of our biggest challenges, because you’re talking about heavy equipment or finding other people to come help, to be able to actually get to the point where you can begin the repair.” As of early afternoon Monday, Clark Energy Coop, which serves 11 central and eastern Kentucky counties, had the most co-op customers without power, at a little more than 3,000. ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post Kentucky Electric Cooperatives official discusses difficulty of restoring power in some rural areas appeared first on The Lexington Times.