Co-op outages peaked at about 400,000 Sunday but were down to about 117,000 as of early Friday afternoon.
Ice accumulation has been the biggest threat for electric co-ops as it snaps power lines and poles and topples trees into wires, causing outages that often last for days.
Mutual aid crews from co-ops in less affected areas have been rushing in to help those who faced the brunt of the storm.
More than 220,000 Americans were without power Friday afternoon, down from more than 1 million early this week, according to poweroutage.us, which showed most remaining outages in the Southern states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana.
Mississippi co-ops were hit especially hard by Winter Storm Fern but were making steady progress in restoring power. About 85,000 co-op members across the state were without power as of Friday afternoon, down from about 160,000 on Monday, said Lydia Walters, vice president of communication for the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi. About 700 mutual aid workers were helping restore power at the affected co-ops, she said.
Co-ops in Texas, one of the first states in the storm’s path, had about 3,000 outages on Friday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us—down from 50,000-plus outages at the peak of the damage.
In Louisiana, Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative in Winnsboro had about 4,000 outages, down from a peak of nearly 6,600, according to the co-op’s Facebook page.
“Winter Storm Fern caused major outages across North Louisiana, and our teams are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service,” the co-op wrote Friday on Facebook. “Please understand that in some areas, entire stretches of roadway have damaged or broken poles, which makes restoration more rigorous and time-consuming. We appreciate your patience as crews work through these challenging conditions.”
Kentucky Electric Cooperatives reported about 1,700 co-op members without power as of Friday afternoon, plummeting from more than 60,000 outages on Sunday night.
In Georgia, crews had restored power to all but about 1,100 co-op members as of Friday afternoon, according to Georgia EMC—falling from more than 38,000 outages on Sunday.