Line crews prepare to head out if freezing rain causes loss of power [Video]

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – With any extreme weather, local power companies prepare for the worst but hope for the best.

MidAmerican is preparing to send any and all line workers if power lines were to go down.

“You’ve got that weight of the ice and then the wind if it’s accumulated, if that ice is accumulated, it will start possibly galloping online so what happens is the wind blows over the ice and it creates lift and that can bounce power lines and that can knock the power out,” said Geoff Greenwood with MidAmerican Energy.

However, they will wait to send crews out until it is safe to do so.

“We have tree crews on contract and we have let those tree crews know that we may need them tonight and tomorrow so we have put tree crews on standby and often times what will happen is when there …