Photo courtesy of Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative Crews from Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative worked to repair power lines Wednesday, after a night of icy conditions and high winds.

Southwest Minnesota may have escaped some of the snow that walloped the state Tuesday and Wednesday. But icy conditions and high winds damaged power lines and poles, and caused power outages for many area residents.

Crews from Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative were at work Tuesday night and Wednesday repairing power lines.

“We’ve been affected primarily on the southeast side of our service area,” said Brian Jeremiason, manager of marketing and external relations with LLEC.

Jeremiason said the most damage to power lines and poles was in an area a few miles to either side of U.S. Highway 14, extending from west of Balaton to west of Tracy. However, there were also power outages in other parts of LLEC’s service area.

LLEC line superintendent Lyle Lamote said LLEC had around 50 outages, ranging from west of Lynd and Russell, south to Highway 14 and over toward Amiret and Tracy.

About 500 customers lost power at various times. LLEC said they would have power restored to customers later on Wednesday.

Parts of southwest Minnesota were in a blizzard warning Tuesday night. Snowfall reports in Lyon County ranged from about an inch in Cottonwood and Marshall to over two inches near Balaton, the National Weather Service said. But while snow totals weren’t as high as they were in other parts of the state, southwest Minnesota still reported wind gusts over of over 50 miles per hour.

Around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, a wind gust of 64 miles per hour was reported in Florence, the NWS said.

The combination of high winds, and rain turning to snow can mean trouble for electric lines, Jeremiason said.

“What we run into is, ice builds up on power lines,” he said. When the wind picks up, the lines can gallop, or bounce up and down. That can lead to outages, and broken or damaged lines and power poles.

Lamote said the first power outages for LLEC were reported early Tuesday afternoon, when a transmission line serving the Russell substation went offline for about 30 minutes. More reports of outages started coming in around 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Line crews went to work Tuesday evening, but they were called back around midnight as the weather got worse.

“The high winds sustained overnight made conditions difficult for our linemen,” Jeremiason said. Crews rested, and returned to work Wednesday after the sun was up, he said.

Temperatures are forecast to be a lot milder for the rest of the week, with high temperatures up into the 50s on Saturday and Sunday, the NWS said. However, warming temperatures could still pose a risk to power lines, Jeremiason said.

“The risk for Thursday will come when the ice melts off the lines,” he said. “This can cause the lines to gallop again and they can get wrapped up with each other. This can cause a short, and lead to lines burning down.”

If area residents see a broken electrical pole or a downed or damaged line, they should report it and stay away from the line, Jeremiason said.

“If you see something, call us,” he said.