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<br />State of Wyoming l268-DR-WY <br />Hazard Mitigation Survey Team Report <br /> <br />Events and Damages <br />. <br /> <br /> <br />From October 4 to October 5, 1998, a winter stonn with heavy wet snow and high winds passed <br />through much of the State of Wyoming. The effects of the stonn were primarily felt in the <br />southeastern portion of the State near the Town of Lusk. The stann was a combination of a <br />strong cold front from the west colliding with a warm front that originated from the Gulf of <br />Mexico. Further complicating the weather event was an upslope condition created by a ridgeline <br />west of the Lusk area. This caused the stonn to stall in the Lusk area, producing heavy wet snow <br />which quickly turned to damaging ice. <br /> <br />The snow and ice fonned and amassed on roadways, trees, electric transmission lines and <br />structures. The excessive weight of the ice pulled guy wire hardware attachments out of the <br />structures, causing structures to snap. Many structure braces and crossarms were cracked or <br />broken from the downed structures. Downed transmission line conductors lying across roadways <br />were damaged from vehicles driving over them. <br /> <br />The ice stonn. affected Converse, Platte, Niobrara and Goshen Counties. Lusk Electric <br />Association and Tri-State Electric Association, and one Federal Power Marketing Administration <br />[the Department of Energy's Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)] experienced serious <br />outages due to the loss of structures, braces, lines, crossarms, and anchors. The outages affected <br />approximately 1,700 Rural Electric Association (REA) customers. Customers were without <br />power in subfreezing temperatures for continuous periods ranging from several hours to five <br />days. Further, the force of the stonn caused major delays on nearby state and county highways. <br />Portions of the state and county highways and roads were closed for an extended period of time <br />due to heavy ice and snow accumulation and extremely poor visibility. <br /> <br /> <br />4 <br />