Answering the call

Oklahoma co-ops lend a hand to Mississippi in the wake of Winter Storm Fern.

When Winter Storm Fern carved a path of ice and snow through the South in late January 2026, its impact on communities and electric infrastructure was immediate and widespread. Mississippi, in particular, bore the brunt of the storm’s fury, with heavy ice accumulation snapping power lines, toppling poles and leaving tens of thousands of cooperative members in the dark for days. As frozen roads and downed trees blocked access to damaged equipment, local crews quickly realized the task ahead would require more hands than they had on their own.

In response, the cooperative principle of “cooperation among cooperatives” kicked into high gear. Across the region, electric co-ops in less severely affected states began mobilizing to help restore power in the hardest-hit areas. Many of those efforts came from Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives. Thirteen Oklahoma co-ops collectively answered the call, sending a force of more than 100 lineworkers to assist Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) in north Mississippi as a part of the longstanding tradition of mutual aid in the cooperative network.

Crews from the following Oklahoma electric cooperatives dispatched mutual aid:

• Alfalfa Electric Cooperative, Cherokee
• Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative, Seminole
• Central Rural Electric Cooperative, Stillwater
• CKenergy Electric Cooperative, Binger
• Cotton Electric Cooperative, Walters
• East Central Electric Cooperative, Okmulgee
• Indian Electric Cooperative, Cleveland
• Kay Electric Cooperative, Blackwell
• Lake Region Electric Cooperative, Hulbert
• Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, Vinita
• Ozarks Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, serving meters in Oklahoma
• People’s Electric Cooperative, Ada
• TCEC, Hooker

From early departures on snowy mornings to long days battling ice-laden conditions, these Oklahoma crews worked alongside local lineworkers and others from across the region to clear debris, rebuild damaged lines and safely reconnect homes and businesses. All TVEPA outages from Winter Storm Fern were restored on February 14.

This coordinated effort was part of a larger restoration push that saw outages across the South drop significantly from early peaks thanks to the collective grit of mutual aid workers.