6:05 p.m., Feb. 14, 2023
At 5:59 p.m., power was fully restored to customers in Central Omaha who were impacted by a weather-related equipment problem earlier today.
Meantime, we’re preparing for the rain we have seen today to change over to snow this evening. The National Weather Service reports that a combination of wind and flash-freeze will likely create hazardous travel conditions this evening in Northeastern Nebraska. Forecasters say we’ll see a first round of snow throughout most of our service territory through midgnight, with a second round beginning late Wednesday afternoon and continuing through early Thursday morning. By the time it’s finished, we could be looking at 1″ to 4″ of snow north, toward Tekamah, between 2″ and 7″ in and around the Omaha metropolitan area, and and between 3″ and 8″ of snow in our south rural service territory, toward Falls City.
Whenever snow and wind are in the forecast, there’s a chance of weather-related power outages. There are some simple steps our customers can take to prepare for the possibility of power outages, such as charging electronic devices like cell phones ahead of time. If you experience an outage, please report it online or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773), so we are aware and can respond.
2 p.m. – As our crews have gotten a better look at the needed repairs, they have adjusted their estimated time of restoration for the 47 customers who remain without power. They are hoping to have power restored to all by 7 p.m.
12:55 p.m. – A pole, shown in the below photos, which was damaged by electrical arcing in today’s weather, has been isolated. Power was restored to most customers at 12:46 p.m. However, 47 customers remain without power until our line tech crew can make repairs. We are hoping to have repairs completed by about 5 p.m. However, we will provide updates here as we learn more.
11:26 a.m., Feb. 14, 2023
A power outage is impacting 1,492 customers in Central Omaha. The circuit serving them locked out at 11:14 a.m. The area impacted includes 89th to 102nd Streets, between Western Avenue and Shamrock Road.
Douglas County 911 reported a pole on fire between Dodge and Burt Streets on the east side of 96th St. OPPD dispatched troubleshooters to investigate. It appears as though there may have been arcing of equipment, caused by weather.
We will report back here when we have more information from our crews in the field.
The below images were captured by one of our team members on the east side of 96th Street between Dodge and Burt Streets.