VINTON - Vinton is struggling to maintain power after the flood damaged its power plant. The city plans to regain its own electricity

These days, power is thin in Vinton. Floodwaters filled the town's electricity plant in a hurry.

"We were doing fine until that floor breached over there, and once that happened, it was all over in a matter of minutes then," said Rick Ohrt, Vinton Municipal Electricity.

"We lost at least four of the six generators that were in there. I guess that would be the largest loss,' said Andy Lent, Vinton City Coordinator.

For now, the city asks citizens to conserve electricity while it rents generators from as far away as Minnesota and South Dakota. And renting power is expensive.

"One of our board members was doing some rough calculations and we're probably looking at 25 cents a kilowatt to generate out of these units versus the eight-and-a-half cents we've been selling to the customer for," said Ohrt.

Ohrt says insurance will keep that imbalance from rising consumer costs, at least for another month or two. But with summer heat and high A-C usage approaching, officials know getting the city's own power plant back on line at full capacity is priority one.

And those officials say they could sustain power in Vinton on just two generators at the plant. But on really hot days with high A-C use that wouldn't be enough to sustain the city's needs.

However, they add it will be impossible to know for sure whether or not the generators made it for at least another month.