Aug. 5, 2024
8 p.m.
Good evening. If you are still without power, you should have received a phone message today with an updated estimate on when we believe we can restore your service, barring unforeseen issues. We understand how frustrating it is to be without power and are still working extremely hard to restore everyone.
If you don’t have power and did not receive a phone message, please contact us at OPPD.com, through our OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773). If possible, please call us from the number that is listed in your account information with us, as that may help streamline the process.
We estimate that all customers will have service restored by the end of Friday, and some could be restored as early as Tuesday.
For customers who received an end-of-day Friday message, please know that we intend to make steady progress every day this week, and your service could be restored earlier than Friday. However, given the complex and time-sensitive nature of the remaining repairs, we are unable to provide a more certain ETR at this time.
Our crews are still out restoring power to customers as quickly as possible after Wednesday’s devastating storm. We know how hard it is to be without electricity, and we won’t ease up until everyone is restored. As of 8 p.m., there are 15,914 customers still without power, mostly in Douglas and Sarpy Counties.
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about outages.
2:30 p.m.
Our crews and mutual aid partners continue working to bring all of our customers back online during sweltering conditions today. We want our customers to know we are doing all we can to bring them back online as quickly and safely as we can after Wednesday’s devastating storm. We know how hard it is to be without electricity, especially with temperatures continuing to climb this afternoon.
Based on our current calculations, we anticipate all outages being restored by the end of Friday, barring any unexpected events. We anticipate that approximately half of the remaining outages (around 13,000) will be restored by the end of the day tomorrow.
We have brought in even more mutual aid crews from nearby utilities who were dealing with outages and have just been freed up to assist us. The restorations we are now dealing with are taking longer than anticipated due to the immense and widespread damage – snapped utility poles, uprooted trees, and downed power lines.
The extent of the damage makes the fixes more complex and takes much longer than expected. The path of damage was incredibly widespread, more so than any storm we’ve experienced before, including the 2021 storm. Customers in 1,805 square miles of our 5,000-mile territory were affected by the storm.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Valley tells us this was one of the five strongest storms in terms of winds ever recorded in the Omaha area. NWS forecasters said the storm was so damaging because the winds were sustained at high speeds – up to 90 mph – for an unusually long period of time.
Given new information and data we have received from our crews, we are working to refine estimated restoration times for our customers who remain without power and will be calling them this afternoon to update them on their outage.
We want to remind our customers still without power to stay hydrated and seek air conditioning if possible. Here’s a link to cooling stations available in Sarpy County. The cooling stations available in Douglas County are listed below.
6:30 a.m.
As we begin the fifth full day of restoration work, 27,650 customers remain without power. Our hearts go out to customers who are struggling in this heat or who have been displaced due to lack of electricity. We understand it is beyond frustrating. We have all available OPPD crews working for you today alongside a record number of mutual aid and tree crews.
Our folks in the field are seeing worse and more widespread damage than previously thought. The extent of the damage makes the fixes more complex and take much longer than expected. The path of damage from Wednesday’s storm was incredibly widespread, more so than any storm we’ve experienced before, including in 2021. That storm was the worst in OPPD’s history in terms of outages before Wednesday.
Based on the new information from our crews, we are continuing assessments to refine our estimated restoration times for customers who are still without power. These estimates could change. As we learn more, you may receive subsequent communications from us. We promise to continue working in force 24-7, every day, until every customer’s power is restored. 
Saturday, we sent targeted phone messages to customers without power with our best estimates of when we believe we can restore their service. If you are still without electricity and did NOT receive one of these messages, please contact us as soon as possible to report your outage. We want to be absolutely certain that we are not missing anyone, and you can help us do that. Also be sure to report any new or subsequent outages you are experiencing so that we are aware and can respond. You can reach us to report outages at OPPD.com, through our OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773).
A heat advisory in effect again today from 1 – 8 p.m. We want to remind our customers still without power to stay hydrated and seek air conditioning if possible. Here’s a linkn to cooling stations available in Sarpy County. And here are some cooling stations available in Douglas County.
Community groups in the Omaha area are offering help to residents who are still without power. In Omaha, Armbrust YMCA has opened its doors 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.
Available financial assistance
- Replacement SNAP Request/Outage Verification requests: OPPD is actively working with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to ensure customers impacted by the storms will have timely access to Replacement SNAP (food stamp) benefits.
- Instead of customers and the State having to verify outage durations once request at a time, OPPD will send a custom outage file to enable a streamline customer experience for SNAP recipients impacted by the outages.
- OPPD customers participating in the SNAP Program that had a power outage lasting more than four hours for refrigerated food or twenty-four hours for frozen food are eligible for replacement SNAP benefits.
- SNAP recipients do not receive replacement SNAP benefits automatically, the household must initiate a request with DHHS.
- If customers have any questions about SNAP replacement eligibility or wants to make a request, please refer them to contact AccessNebraska at 402-595-1258 or 1-800-383-4278.
Other available resources
To read previous days’ Storm & Outage updates, click here.