Thursday, Aug. 1
9 a.m.
Our crews are out working hard this morning to restore everyone’s power and assess the full extent of yesterday’s storm damage.
So far, we’ve restored power to 73,811 customers, which is about one-third of the nearly 220,000 customers who experienced an outage. We still have 147,189 customers without power and are in the process of restoring everyone as quickly as possible.
We’ve mobilized every available field resource to respond to this event, including line crews, troubleshooter teams, wires-down crews, tree-trimming contractors and many others. We’ve also summoned our mutual aid support partners to help us with this effort and expect 62 crews to arrive today. Our customer service team and many others behind the scenes are working overtime to provide you with the best information we have available.
We’re also working closely with the City of Omaha and our many other local government partners.
In the meantime, please remember to prioritize safety. Stay far away from downed power lines and always assume that they are live, high-voltage and extremely dangerous. If you see a downed line on a public street or sidewalk, call 911 to report the hazard. If the downed line is on private property, please report it to OPPD online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) or via the OPPDconnect app.
Please also understand that it’s very difficult right now to provide accurate estimated restoration times. The extreme winds that struck us all last night caused extensive tree damage throughout our service territory, especially in densely populated Douglas County. We also have customer outages in Sarpy, Cass, Saunders, Washington, Pottawattamie and Otoe counties.
As our crews enter the field today, please do not interfere with their work for their safety and yours.
We’ve also made clear that we want them to be safe while working in today’s heat and take occasional breaks. It may occasionally appear that they are not actively working, but please know that they are. Some of their tasks requires waiting to test power quality, which is not as visible as a worker in a bucket truck. This is all part of the normal restoration process.
6:15 a.m. – Our crews have worked through the night and made good progress with power restoration, but they still have an immense amount of work ahead of them after last night’s devastating storms.
At this time, 167,514 customers are still without power. The bulk of them, 128,353, are in the Douglas County area. In Sarpy County, 33,883 customers are without power.
The extreme windstorm that struck our service territory caused widespread tree damage and outages throughout the Omaha metro area, particularly in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Wind gusts reached up to 100 miles per hour, causing customer outages in Cass, Saunders, Washington, Pottawattamie and Otoe counties.
Our damage assessment teams will be heading out this morning to get a full picture of the damage and to give us a better idea of how long it will take to bring power back to impacted customers. We also expect to have help from mutual aid crews and tree trimmers. We already have support from LE Myers out working in the field, and more from other companies and utilities will be joining us throughout the day.
We want to continue to stress extreme caution when it comes to any downed power lines. Always treat them as live, high voltage and dangerous. If the downed line is on a public street or sidewalk, call 911 to report the hazard. If it’s a downed line on private property, please report it to OPPD online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) or the OPPDconnect app.
We will keep you posted as we know more. And we want to thank our customers for their patience during such a difficult time. We’re all in this together.
Wednesday, July 31
10:30 p.m. – Our crews are working through the night to restore power to the more than 219,000 customers who lost power during the extreme wind event earlier this evening. Wind gusts reached up to 100 mph causing widespread damage in Douglas and Sarpy counties. Thirty-five crews are working throughout the night to restore power to as many customers as safely as they can.
By tomorrow we will have help from our mutual aid partners we have requested to assist us and will have extra tree trimming crews on hand. We expect to have a tree trimming crew for each restoration crew in the field tomorrow.
We want to stress that people should be extremely cautious of any downed power lines and to treat them as live wires. If the downed line is on a public street or sidewalk, call 911. If it’s a downed line on private property, please report it online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) or the OPPDconnect app.
8:45 p.m. – The windstorm that struck the OPPD service territory caused power outages to 220,545 customers. There have been reports of wind gusts up to 100 mph in some areas. There is heavy tree damage and reports of downed wires across the area. Our crews are assessing the damage and are in the early stages of what is one of our largest restoration efforts as of late.
People should exercise caution as they clear any downed limbs and if they come across downed wires assume they are live and steer clear. If you come across a downed line report it by calling 911.
7:40 p.m. – The storm system that brought extremely high winds to our area has left 218,000 customers without power Wednesday evening. Outage numbers could continue to climb as more people report their outages.
7 p.m. – The number of customers without power now stands at 203,000 and is expected to rise as more customers report their outages. There is widespread damage throughout the service territory. People should exercise caution as they clear any downed limbs and if they come across downed wires assume they are live and steer clear. If you come across a downed line report it by calling 911.
6:30 p.m. – Power outage numbers continue to climb as there are now more than 132,000 customers without power. There are reports of uprooted trees and damaged poles. If you come across a downed power line, consider it live and stay away and call 911 to report it.
6:05 p.m. – Power outage numbers have climbed to more than 61,500 customers without power. Once the storm passes and conditions stabilize, crews will be out working to restore power to those who have lost it. Outage numbers will likely continue to climb until the storm has passed.
5:45 p.m. – Power outages have been reported in Cass and Saunders counties as a strong system with extremely high winds moves through the OPPD service territory. There are currently more than 3,000 people without power and that number is expected to climb as the storm pushes through.
