Nebraska public power utilities were hard at work over the weekend restoring power in the wake of severe storms and tornadoes that hit the state.
Nebraska Public Power District on Saturday, April 27, reported that it was sending a 22-man team to Omaha to aid Omaha Public Power District in power restoration, following Friday’s severe weather.
Two NPPD supervisors and 20 technicians left Saturday morning with necessary vehicles and equipment to provide mutual aid. Line technicians responding will be from NPPD operations in Aurora, Kearney, O’Neill, Plattsmouth, South Sioux City and York.
On April 29, NPPD reported that the 22-man crew was returning home after assisting OPPD.
NPPD also noted that it was helping Howard Greeley Rural Public Power District install mobile generators to help restore power to their customers.
NPPD crews were making repairs to an NPPD transmission line that had broken wood poles between Albion and Spalding but NPPD did not have any large retail customers outages as a result of the weather.
As of 2 p.m. on April 27, OPPD had restored power to 62% of customers impacted. At that time, more than 4,100 customers remained without power, down from peak of about 10,200 outages.
The four regions hit hardest were the Elkhorn, Bennington, and Blair areas, as well as around Eppley Airfield.
OPPD tree crews, troubleshooters, repair crews, and downed wire crews worked through the overnight hours in some tough conditions with debris-blocked roadways and other hazards creating challenges.
“They are facing a number of downed power lines and broken poles, among other obstacles. Unfortunately, the kinds of complex repairs remaining take some time, so the restoration efforts will be slow progressing compared to the first round of restorations,” OPPD reported.
Less than 500 customers who lost power Friday night are still without service, OPPD reported on April 29. “Our crews continue to navigate tough conditions, such as muddy and rough terrain requiring assistance from bulldozers. They won’t let up until all outages have been restored,” it said.
On April 27, Lincoln Electric System reported that as of 10 pm, it had roughly 40 customers that remained without power.
“The extent of damage has been assessed and our crews are working hard to rebuild damaged power lines,” it said.
