Friday, Aug. 2
9 p.m.
Crews will work through the night on power restoration in their effort to bring everyone back online following Wednesday night’s storm that brought hurricane-force winds to the OPPD service territory.
We know being without electricity is hard and we thank our customers for their patience as we work as safely and quickly as possible to restore power. We want to remind those without power that there are community resources available like the 211 Helpline among others.
We have now restored power to 74% of those customers who lost power at the height of the storm. There are now 56,769 customers without power.
We want to continue to remind people to be safe especially if they encounter downed lines and to always assume those lines are live and dangerous. Anyone who comes across a downed line should report it by calling 911 if it is on public property or report it to OPPD online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) or via the OPPDconnect app if it is on private property.
Also remember to report any new power outages using any of OPPD’s various means to do so as listed above.
4 p.m.
We’re making more progress in our push to restore power to everyone in our service territory. Again, we thank you for your patience and resilience.
Our crews, contractors and mutual aid partners are scattered throughout all of Douglas and Sarpy counties and the rest of our service territory. The damage in Douglas and Sarpy is particularly intense and widespread.
Some customers have asked how we prioritize restoration work. This is our process, which is designed to help as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible.
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- First, OPPD crews repair the main transmission lines from our substations, as these fixes quickly restore service to most people.
- Second, crews assess damage and prioritize remaining repairs. Public safety and emergency response facilities, such as police, fire, hospital trauma centers, and related infrastructure, are prioritized due to the life-saving services they provide.
- Third, crews focus on addressing circuit lockouts. These aren’t always simple to repair, but they tend to bring large numbers of customers back online. The number of customers on a circuit can range from several hundred to several thousand.
- After circuit repairs, crews move to repair tap lines that serve small groups of homes and/or apartments. If your neighbors have power and you don’t, you might be on a different circuit, or the service line feeding your home or apartment building may have been damaged.
- Finally, we pivot to individual repairs after we’ve restored all distribution main and tap lines. In widespread outages like this, this can be the most time-consuming and dangerous work. OPPD crews will untangle lines from fallen trees, but they cannot clear tree branches. We work as safely and speedily as we can while we work with customers and other services during the restoration process.
Again, we thank you for your patience.
11:30 a.m.
OPPD crews, contractors and mutual aid partners are still out in the field in this morning, repairing widespread damage so we can restore power to everyone as soon as possible.
We’ve mobilized a huge force and won’t let up until the job is done.
However, we want to make clear that much of the remaining work can be complicated and time-consuming. Often, we’re fixing equipment at the neighborhood level. The size and severity of Wednesday’s extreme windstorm and the extent of the damage makes that a big challenge, but we’re working through it as hard as ever.
Here are some answers to common questions:
WHY DOES MY NEIGHBOR HAVE POWER WHEN I DON’T?
OPPD delivers power to customers through a network of localized distribution circuits. But these circuits don’t follow specific streets or landmarks.
Local circuits allow us to isolate the number of customers affected during outages. Imagine a circuit breaker in your home, which lets you turn off power to one room without affecting the rest of the house.
OPPD also has many other devices in place to limit the number of customers affected before an entire circuit loses power. So, when a storm hits and damages equipment in your neighborhood, some homes may be affected while others aren’t.
WHO SHOULD I CALL IF I SEE A DOWNED LINE?
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.
Only call 911 if the downed line is on a public sidewalk or street.
I LOST POWER, THEN IT WAS RESTORED, THEN I LOST IT AGAIN. WHY DID THAT HAPPEN AND WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Sometimes, major storms can cause damage that doesn’t lead to an outage right away. A branch that was hanging loosely after a storm might fall suddenly onto a line. Perhaps a piece of equipment gets damaged by wind, but doesn’t fail right away. Or maybe you’re experiencing an outage not related to the storm.
If you need to report an outage, please contact us online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) or via the OPPDconnect app.
WHY CAN’T YOU PROVIDE AN ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIME FOR ME SPECIFICALLY?
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a specific restoration time for your home due to the extent of the damage we’re encountering. We’re advising all remaining customers without power to plan for the restoration to take up to eight days after the storm (Thursday, Aug. 8), especially in heavily damaged areas. We hope it’s sooner and will work very hard to get you back up as soon as possible, but we want everyone to be able to make alternative plans if needed.
WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG TO GET TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD? YOU SEEM TO BE PRIORITIZING OTHERS FIRST.
OPPD does not prioritize areas of town when it comes to power restoration. Our crews work on repairs that will restore the greatest number of customers first and then make their way down to more individual, lengthy repairs.
MY AIR CONDITIONING ISN’T WORKING. WHERE CAN I GO TO COOL OFF?
Community groups in the Omaha area are offering help to residents who are still without power due to yesterday’s extreme windstorm.
Here are some services available:
Showers/Air Conditioning: In Omaha, Armbrust YMCA is opened its doors Thursday to anyone without power who may need a shower or to get out of the heat. If you are not a member of the YMCA, you will need to bring your state ID.
Cooling Centers: Salvation Army Western Division is opening multiple cooling centers in Omaha, Thursday and Friday, to provide respite from the heat for those dealing with power outages. Locations are North Corps at 2424 Pratt Street, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Citadel Corps at 3738 Cuming St., 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
6:30 a.m.
With help from our mutual aid partners, restoration work continued overnight throughout storm-impacted areas. This morning, more than 92,000 customers are without power. You’ll notice this number is higher than last night’s reported outages. Keep in mind, these outages may not all be directly related to Wednesday’s storms.
As it stands, the majority of outages, more than 71,000, are in the Douglas County area. Nearly 17,000 are in Sarpy County, and nearly 2,500 are in Saunders County.
OPPD does not prioritize areas of town when it comes to power restoration. Our crews work on repairs that will restore the greatest number of customers first and make their way down to more individual, lengthy repairs.
Our damage assessment teams and troubleshooters continue to work to hone in on more specific estimated restoration times for our customers. We know it’s incredibly difficult to be without power for this long and that you need to know when your power will be back. We are doing our best to bring it back and restore normalcy to your lives.
We want to give our sincere thanks to all our our customers. We are so heartened by the support we’ve seen – from kind words for our crews to neighbors helping neighbors with tree cleanup. We’re really proud to be part of this amazing community.
Remember to be sure to report any new power outages so that we are aware and can respond. You can do that online or at 1-800-554-OPPD (6773). Or use the OPPDconnect app. We’ll keep providing updates here as we have more information for you!
To view our earlier posts, click here.
