Dairyland offered mutual assistance to Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO), an Iowa G&T, who suffered significant damage in their service territory during a derecho. Crews from Dairyland's Transmission Construction, Transmission Maintenance, Field Operations, Fleet Operations and Safety went to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area helping restore power. 

A derecho is a line of intense, widespread and fast-moving windstorms, and sometimes thunderstorms, that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds. Wind speeds reaching up to 100 mph resulted in approximately 60,000 member-consumers without power as reported by the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. 

“There were roughly 220 poles down in the two sections of line that the Dairyland crews were working on,” said  Dairyland's Dustin Rosemeyer (Transmission Construction). 

“Many of our construction guys left from the jobs they were working on and never had a chance to go home to pack,” said Dairyland's Shannon Duwe (Transmission Services). “I really want to express my thanks and appreciation to everyone that helped out. Stepping in to provide service when needed without question is highly valued and shows true commitment."