August 10 marked the one-year anniversary of a devastating derecho that tore through parts of the Midwest, causing more than 1 million power outages and damaging thousands of homes. Iowa was particularly hit hard by the sudden storm, with more than 250,000 Alliant Energy customers losing power.

Alliant Energy faced the challenge not only of restoring power, but also of quickly rebuilding the energy grid infrastructure that had been destroyed by the derecho.

Recently, Alliant Energy published a video that reflects on the hard work of its crews during long shifts, expresses gratitude for the crews from across the country that provided mutual assistance, and describes its ongoing partnerships to help Iowa communities. The company also thanks its customers for their support.

“We’ve weathered ice storms and floods, but the derecho by far was the most impactful and devastating,” Mayuri Farlinger, Alliant Energy director of operations, said in the video. “It was an inland hurricane that spanned the state of Iowa, moving from west to east with major impacts across the entire state.”

After the derecho, Alliant Energy replaced 3,600 poles within weeks (a project which normally would take about 10 months); restrung 6 million feet of power lines; and helped repair 200 homes through Project ReConnect, a program created by Alliant Energy that funded electrical repairs for homeowners who couldn’t have power restored due to damage to their homes. The company also has pledged to replant 1 million trees through its partnership with Trees Forever in Iowa.

“Even as this storm was rolling though our service territory, we already had people jumping in action, crews out there right behind the storm putting lines back up, putting lights back up. We had operations folks all getting organized to make sure we would get the internal and external resources needed to help restore service,” said Terry Kouba, President – Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company and Senior Vice President - Operations in the video.

In the aftermath of the storm, more than 2,200 crew members worked to replace lines and poles and crews from 35 companies across the U.S. and Canada assisted.

In the video, community members recall how residents cheered when Alliant Energy trucks arrived to restore power after the derecho and how Alliant Energy employees helped distribute food after the storm.

Watch the video and read a blog post by Kouba reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the derecho on Alliant Energy’s website.

Alliant Energy was a recipient of EEI’s Emergency Response Award for working collaboratively to restore electricity following the August 10, 2020, derecho.

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