A July 31 windstorm with gusts up 100 miles per hour resulted in the largest outage event in the Omaha Public Power District’s recorded history.
The extreme windstorm that struck the Omaha area caused widespread tree damage and power outages throughout the Omaha metro area, particularly in Douglas and Sarpy counties. “We also have customer outages in Cass, Saunders, Washington, Pottawattamie and Otoe counties,” OPPD noted on July 31.
OPPD reported that almost 220,000 lost power Wednesday evening, which is more than half of the utility’s 412,000 customers.
Jodi Baker, Media Specialist at OPPD, said on the afternoon of Aug. 1 that it had 91 mutual aid crews and 121 tree crews signed up to help OPPD. By noon on Aug. 1, OPPD achieved nearly 47% restoration. However, the lengthier repairs still lie ahead, she noted.
Baker told Public Power Current that 91 mutual aid support crews were helping from the following agencies:
- LE Myers
- NPPD
- Loup
- RS Electric
- Grand Island
- CSR – Collective Strategic Resources
- NREA – Nebraska Rural Electric Association
- Intren
- Michels
OPPD also has 96 tree crews from Asplundh and Wright Tree Service.
By the end of the week, crews had restored service to 60% of those who lost power in Wednesday night’s storm.
On the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 4, OPPD said it welcomed additional mutual aid support as it continued restoration efforts.
From OPPD crews and tree contractors and mutual aid teams on the front lines to workers behind the scenes, there are now approximately 1,300 people working on power restoration efforts, it said.
As of 1 p.m., Aug. 4, "our teams were working to restore power to nearly 39,000 customers, the remaining 18% of customers who are still without power after Wednesday’s devastating storm. At the peak, 218,332 customers were in the dark," OPPD said.
