Interstate Power and Light
Terry Kouba is the President of Interstate Power and Light.
A derecho recently swept across Iowa with wind speeds reaching one hundred and forty miles per hour. In addition to widespread property damage, nearly six-hundred thousand Iowans were left without power and nearly forty percent of the state's crops were damaged or destroyed. Iowa rarely, if ever, witnessed a storm that left more devastation in its wake. PUF staff talked with Terry Kouba, President, Interstate Power and Light and Dusky Terry, President, ITC Midwest about this costly derecho and extensive restoration efforts. Kouba serves also as Senior VP of Utility Operations at parent company, Alliant Energy.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: How did this start?
Terry Kouba: Being a forty-year utility veteran, I watch the weather closely. That morning, Monday, August the tenth, there were maybe some showers and thunderstorms in the forecast.
All of us were working. I remember being on conference calls, and I got a text from my son-in-law who lives in Waukee, Iowa. He said, you'd better go batten down the hatches.