Lineman dies while making repairs in Oklahoma Panhandle

BEAVER, Okla. (AP) – An electric utility says one lineman was killed and another injured after they came into contact with a power line while restoring electricity in a rural part of the Oklahoma Panhandle hit hard by an ice storm earlier this month.
Tri-County Electric Cooperative says the contractors were working Sunday on the utility’s restoration efforts in Beaver County, which was hit hard by the wintry weather earlier this month. The utility says the workers “came into contact with a high voltage line.”
The utility says one worker died and another was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital. The utility’s CEO, Zac Perkins, says the incident remains under investigation.
The utility had nearly 7,000 outages – and more than 1,000 broken poles – after the ice storm hit 10 days ago.