11:45 p.m., Aug. 10, 2025
At this time, 1,038 outages remain as our crews and mutual aid partners continue to work to restore power to all of those impacted. We will provide our next update in the morning.
7 p.m. – We’ve restored power to 93% of customers impacted by this weekend’s storms. This home stretch of repairs is complex and time intensive, so progress has slowed a bit. But we won’t let up until all customers have power back.
At this time, 2,401 outages remain following two rounds of storms that hit our service territory. More than 1,300 of those are in Washington County, with the Blair and Fort Calhoun areas damaged heavily by strong winds. Heavy mud in rural areas is making it tough for our trucks to get through and get to the equipment in need of repair, as the below photos show.
More than 700 of the remaining outages are in Douglas County. Nearly 400 are in Saunders County. We also have smaller numbers of outages in Sarpy, Cass, Dodge, Nemaha, Johnson, Richardson, Colfax, and Pottawattamie Counties.
We called 1,144 customers late this afternoon to let them know their power may not be restored until tomorrow. We are hoping some of them will be back online yet by day’s end; however, we wanted to make sure they had the information they need to make plans.
If you have a power outage you have not yet reported or if your surrounding neighbors have power, but you don’t, it’s important you let us know so we can respond. It’s possible there’s a secondary issue that we need to investigate. You can report outages at at OPPD.com, via the OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-6773.
As noted in the below post, we’ve read some customer comments on social media, wanting us to place all power liens underground to avoid weather-related service disruptions. We want to let our customers know that we are undergrounding power lines as it is financially and practically feasible – about 20 to 40 miles of line every year. Read more about the considerations and process involved here on OPPD’s The Wire.
We want to thank our impacted customers for your grace and patience as we work through these difficult repairs. We and our mutual aid partners will keep working as quickly and safely as possible to bring your lights and air conditioning back on.
5:15 p.m. – As of this time, 2,862 customers are without power. This includes customers who lost power in the most recent overnight storms. More than 1,100 of the impacted customers are in Douglas County, nearly 1,200 are in Washington County, and about 500 are in Saunders County.
The Bennington, Blair and Ceresco areas are the hardest hit. Our crews, along with mutual aid and contractor crews, continue to work to make repairs and will not let up until all customers’ power has been restored.
At left, a photo provided by one of our mutual aid partners, RS Electric out of Missouri, shows transmission system damage in Washington County.
This afternoon, we called just over 1,100 customers who may not have power back until sometime tomorrow. It’s possible, for some of them, that power will be restored yet today. But we wanted to make sure and give these customers the best information we have right now so they can plan.
We’ve been asked by many customers why we do not place more power lines un
derground to try and avoid wind-related damage and outages. OPPD continues to study the issue, and we do replace overhead lines with underground lines where it makes sense to do so – both from a financial and practicality standpoint. In fact, we replace between 40 and miles of power lines every year.
At right, an example of some of the tough conditions our crews are up against – mud-logged pathways in the Fort Calhoun area.
It’s worth noting that overhead power lines are often found in older, more established neighborhoods with mature vegetation, landscaping, pools, sheds, patios, and other obstacles that would have to be disrupted if we were to bury power lines. Such work cannot only disrupt the root systems of old, established trees but cause a major disruption of property.
Other issues include how much of the line to bury in a neighborhood and where the cost burden lies. The homeowner is typically responsible for the cost where the overhead line attaches to the house and feeds into the meter. Converting from overhead service requires significant changes to this portion of the service connection. Even if the lines are buried in a neighborhood, there could still be overhead portions of the line along main roads that are exposed t the elements and subject to weather-related outages. OPPD carefully considers both overhead and underground construction when installing new equipment or replacing existing equipment. Many factors impact the cost of construction and operation of OPPD’s facilities. The utility evaluates each project on a case-by-case basis to determine the best overall solution.
If your neighbors have power back and you do not yet, or if you’ve lost power a second time and not reported it, please be sure and do so. It’s important that we’re aware so that we can look into it in case there are other issues impacting your service. You can do this at OPPD.com, via the OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-6773.
11:55 a.m. – As of 11:30 a.m., we’re still working to restore 6,845 customers who lost service during this weekend’s storms. We’ve restored power to 32,952 customers (83% of the total affected) and we aren’t stopping until everyone is back up.
Right now, we have 456 field employees out working, including 141 mutual aid partners from other utilities. We’re thankful for their help, especially given the wide breadth of storm damage throughout Nebraska, well beyond the boundaries of our service territory.
Barring any new developments, we still believe our earlier estimated restoration times are accurate. We predict that most customers will regain service today, but a few thousand in the hardest-hit areas will likely not be restored until Monday due to the extent of their damage and complexity of repairs.
We know it’s frustrating to be without power for such a long of time, and we will keep pushing as hard as we safely can to help everyone. Major storm outages are always fluid situations, but we want to be transparent and provide our best estimates so that you can plan accordingly for your situation. Thank you again for your patience. We’ll keep providing new information as it we get it.
8:30 a.m. – Our crews, contractors and mutual aid partners are all out in the field again today restoring power to customers.
Before last night’s storm, our service territory had fewer than 4,000 customers without power, down from a peak of 39,797. After last night’s weather, the number stands at 9,103 customers. We have restored 30,694 customers, or 77% of the peak number.
Last night’s storm wasn’t as severe, but still caused some outages. The number of remaining outages has fluctuated, and will likely continue to change, as more people wake up this morning and report outages. Latent damage from Saturday’s winds is likely a factor in some of the new outages.
Please remember to report outages online at oppd.com, via the OPPD Connect app, or by calling 1-800-554-6773.
Thank you for your patience. We know it’s difficult to be without power, especially for a long stretch of time, and we’re working hard in the field and behind the scenes to restore every last customer. We’ll share more information as it becomes available.
6:15 a.m. – Good morning. Overnight, we made some more progress in our restoration work for customers affected by Saturday morning’s severe windstorm.
The number of current customers without power stands at 7,096 as of 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Unfortunately, last night’s weather caused a handful of new outages that we are working to address.
Our field crews, mutual aid partners and contractors are back at it this morning, and we expect some additional reinforcements to join us today.
We believe we will have most of the remaining customers restored today. A smaller handful of customers in areas with the most damage may not get power back until Monday. As always, these estimates are subject to change with any unforeseen developments. If you within these groups, you should have received a call from us with an update on your predicted status.
Yesterday, we had 412 field workers out restoring customers. More than half of those came from outside partners, including LE Myers, Fremont Utilities, CSR – Vector, CSR – PLC, RS Electric, Burns Electric, and Watts & High Voltage, as well as Asplundh & Wright tree crews. Nebraska Public Power District is expected to join us this morning.
If you have power, please report it to us online at oppd.com, via the OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-6773. We will not stop working until every last customer regains power.
For our previous notes about this storm event, click here.