3:50 p.m., June 28, 2024
OPPD crews haven’t let up on restoration efforts. The number of customers who were impacted by Tuesday’s storm and still without power is now under 283. That’s down from the peak of 37,239 on Tuesday.
Any additional outages noted on our map currently are from today and not directly related to the storms earlier this week.
We know it’s been hard on our customers who have been without power for so long, and we want them to know that we’re working as quickly as we safely can to bring power back. These final repairs are time-consuming, involving tree trimming and debris removal and rebuilding poles, among other challenges. We want to thank our customers for the patience and support that they’ve shown our crews as they work to restore normalcy to the heavily impacted neighborhoods.
Our crews are out in full force, all working to make the final repairs. We’ve also had a great deal of help from mutual aid partners including PAR Electric (sent by Evergy), R/S Electric (Sent by Mid American Energy), Asplundh Tree Expert (Sent from LES), Wright Tree Service, Nebraska Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System (LES).
We want to remind people to please stay a safe distance from our crews while they are completing their dangerous work – for their safety and yours. They need to maintain complete focus on what they’re doing. This is especially important with fatigue being a potential issue now four days into their restoration efforts.
We’ve been following the forecast closely and are glad to see that severe weather chances have diminished for the remainder of this afternoon. However, we will be ready to respond in the event of service issues. We remind our customers, if you experience an outage, please be sure and report it online, via our OPPDConnect app or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773), so that we’re aware and can respond.
12:45 p.m. – This morning’s circuit outage in North Central Omaha has been restored as of 12:35 p.m. OPPD crews continue to work on restoring storm-related outages.
At this time, more than 700 customers remain without power as a result of Tuesday’s storms. The remaining repairs are time-consuming. Our crews will keep working hard until all customers are back online.
11:55 a.m. – OPPD is investigating a circuit outage impacting nearly customers in North Central Omaha. They lost power just before 11 a.m.
Those impacted are between Manderson St. and Blondo St., between 73rd St. and 58th St. Our troubleshooters are patrolling the circuit to determine the cause so our crews can restore power. We will keep you posted on what they learn.
10:45 a.m. – Our crews continue to make steady progress with power outage restorations following Tuesday’s strong storms, while preparing for more storm potential this evening.
As of this time, 749 customers are without power. This includes a couple hundred new outages that occurred overnight as a result of residual storm damage, like tree limbs previously weakened giving way and interfering with power lines. Several dozen additional power outages were reported late this morning. Our troubleshooters are investigating the various causes so our crews can make needed repairs to bring power back.
As we continue to make restoration progress, we will start to release some of our mutual aid crews. They have been such a great help in tackling this last stretch of lengthy repairs, and we are so grateful. We also want to thank our customers for their patience during such a difficult time. We also want to thank folks for staying a safe distance back from our crews as they complete their dangerous work. They need to maintain 100% focus – not only for their own safety, but for the safety of the public.
OPPD is keeping a close eye on the forecast for later today and will hold over crews if needed to be able to respond more quickly in the event of additional power outages. If you lose power, be sure and report it online, via our OPPDConnect app or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773).
8 a.m. – We’re almost done. As of 7:45 a.m., we’ve restored power to around 98% of the customers affected by Tuesday’s severe storms. We’re still working on those final customers who are in an outage.
The number of customers without power stands at 835, down from the peak of 37,239 right after the storms.
Over the last few days, OPPD crews have worked long hours with help from other Nebraska public power utilities and private contractors. Those efforts focused heavily on the northern metro area, which was hardest hit by straight line winds as great as 90 mph.
We want to remind customers that resources may be available for customers who qualify for food assistance.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is offering timely access to replacement SNAP (food assistance) benefits for customers affected by an outage, if they already qualify for the program.
OPPD customers who receive SNAP benefits could be eligible for replacement SNAP assistance if they had a power outage.
If you receive these benefits, please contact DHHS to initiate a request. The number for the AccessNebraska service center is 402-595-1258 or 1-800-383-4278.
We’ve reached out to other partners as well, including food pantries. Some resources include the Heart Ministry Center; Catholic Charities; and Heartland Hope Mission. For more information about resources, please call 211.
Thursday, June 27
5 p.m.
The number of customers without power continues to decline as our crews and partners work their way through individual neighborhoods still affected by outages.
All of the circuits in our system are now operational, but we’re still working to restore isolated outages. That includes smaller outages on circuits that have been restored. We currently have 2,164 customers without power, down from the peak of 37,239 shortly after the storms hit Omaha.
HOW MUCH LONGER?
The work on these final outages may take some time. Tree damage in one spot can affect broader areas of service. Some equipment may be damaged badly enough that repairs can take a while, or parts may have to be replaced entirely. We’ve seen reports that some areas with dense tree cover were hit with 90 mph straight-line winds.
Several times during this restoration, we’ve had to replace entire poles and sections of power line. And often, our crews and partners need to clear large amounts of debris before they can even begin work. Winds that strong can easily snap trees and power poles, creating a tangled mess that takes time to fix.
Above all else, the safety of our employees is our absolute top priority. Our teams are trained to prioritize safe, deliberate work, even if that means a slightly slower restoration time.
Unfortunately, we still anticipate that the full restoration won’t be finished until the end of Friday, barring any unforeseen developments. Teams will continue to work through the night Thursday, and we’ve funneled as many resources as we can get into the hardest-hit areas.
We sent more than 350 workers into neighborhoods today, including contractors and four mutual aid partners from Nebraska. The vast majority of our restoration efforts are focused on the northern part of the Omaha metro area, which accounted for 22,583 of the 37,239 outages. If you see an OPPD crew, please give them plenty of room and don’t interrupt their work.
We thank you again for your patience and will continue providing updates on our progress.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is offering timely access to replacement SNAP (food assistance) benefits for customers affected by an outage, if they already qualify for the program.
OPPD customers who receive SNAP benefits could be eligible for replacement SNAP assistance if they had a power outage.
If you receive these benefits, please contact DHHS to initiate a request. The number for the AccessNebraska service center is 402-595-1258 or 1-800-383-4278.
We’ve reached out to other partners as well, including food pantries. Some resources include the Heart Ministry Center; Catholic Charities; and Heartland Hope Mission. For more information about resources, please call 211.
7:45 a.m.
OPPD crews continued to restore power to customers overnight and have reduced the total number of outages to 3,958 customers, 89% of those who lost power at the peak of the storm.
We aren’t done yet, and we want to thank everyone again for their patience. Yesterday, we sent more than 350 workers into neighborhoods to restore power, with a focus on the hardest-hit areas of Omaha.
OPPD line crews, troubleshooters, underground construction crews, wires-down crews and many others joined forces with our external partners to accelerate the work as much as possible.
Our mutual aid partners yesterday came from Lincoln Electric System, Fremont Department of Utilities, Norris Public Power District, and private contractor L.E. Myers. Nebraska Public Power District is planning to send a crew this morning, and we’re talking with others who we hope can help.
We understand that this outage may be having a big impact on your life. We take that very seriously, and we want you to know that we’re still working hard to restore your electrical service as quickly and safely as possible. We thank you again for your patience and will keep you posted on the work as it progresses.
Wednesday, June 26
5:40 p.m.
The work to restore the remaining customers who lost power during the outages will be more difficult and time-consuming as the areas with the most damage are some of the most heavily treed in the city. Mutual aid crews are helping in our efforts, and we are working to bring in more. Unfortunately, some customers will be without power until the end of the day Friday, barring any unforeseen circumstances. We know how inconvenient this is for those customers and appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue working to restore power to all of our customers.
Crews continue to restore power to customers impacted by overnight storms that resulted in a peak of 37,239 customers losing power. Crews have made good progress and have restored power to 82% of the customers who originally lost power. There are now 6,657 customers without power.
11:30 a.m.
OPPD crews are still restoring power to customers this morning after a series of overnight storms rolled through our service territory, downing trees and power poles.
The work is ongoing, and so far, our teams have restored power to all but 10,595 customers. After last night’s storms, we saw the outage total rise to a peak of 37,239.
Outside mutual aid crews are inbound as well to help OPPD respond to the extensive and widespread damage we’re seeing. Many outages appears to have been caused by trees falling into power lines and poles, with some also blocking roads.
We’re working through those challenges, but want to remind customers that our crews do not pick up tree debris after working an area, as they have to move on to the next restoration job as quickly and safely as possible. The debris is the responsibility of the home or property owner.
Please stay safe and don’t go near any downed power lines. If you see a downed line, assume it it electrified and call 911 to report it.
9:45 a.m.
Our crews continue working through tough conditions to restore power to everyone impacted by a series of overnight storms that hit the Omaha area.
Outage numbers have risen due to a circuit lockout this morning and there are now 12,421 customers without power.
Crews are seeing a lot of tree damage this morning which makes restoration efforts more difficult. They are also seeing some damage to power poles due to the extremely high winds last night and early this morning. The Florence area and from the Missouri River to 90th Street and north of Interstate 680 are among the hardest hit areas.
There will be some mutual aid assistance arriving to help our crews later this morning. And a reminder that our crews do not pick up the tree debris after working an area as they are moving on to the next restoration job as quickly and safely as possible. That debris is the responsibility of the home or property owner.
Please stay away from any downed line and consider it a live wire and call 911 to report it.
We will post more restoration updates here as they become available.
6:30 a.m.
We’ve restored power to nearly 70% of the customers affected by overnight storms that struck the Omaha area.
As of 6:15 a.m. we had 10,732 customers who are still without power. That’s down from the peak of 37,239 a few hours ago.
Our teams worked hard through the night to identify and repair damage after a major storm front with powerful winds rolled through the Omaha area.
We’re still working the restore service to those who are still out. It’s difficult at this point to provide a precise estimated restoration time, but we’ll share information as soon as we have it. Thank you again for your patience and understanding.
1:20 a.m.
We’ve restored power to nearly 30% of the customers affected by overnight storms that struck the Omaha area.
As of 1:15 a.m., we are working to help 26,384 who are still without power. That’s down from the peak of 37,239 a few hours ago.
The vast majority of the customers who are still out are in the north central metro area. We’re working as fast as we can to restore them as well, but doing so may take time and the darkness and weather are creating additional challenges for our teams. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
1 a.m.
OPPD is assessing the extent of the damage left by the overnight storms so we can restore power to customers as quickly as possible.
Our initial indications show we had more than 37,000 customers who lost power at the peak of the outage event.
We’ve summoned line crews, line maintenance technicians and other workers to assess the damage, formulate a plan and restore power. But those efforts may take time due to the darkness and ongoing weather. We don’t have an estimated restoration time right now, but will provide one when we can.
Tuesday, June 25
10 p.m.
As a second round of storms rolls through the OPPD service territory, more than 35,000 customers are without power. The vast majority of the outages are spread throughout Douglas County.
The outages began shortly after 9:30 p.m. There are currently 17 circuits locked out as storms hit the area.
We will post more information here as it becomes available.
