Omaha (KPTM) - Next update at approximately 8:00 p.m., Friday, 11/20/09
As of mid-afternoon, 22 customers who lost electricity during a snowstorm in OPPD's southern service area Monday remain without power. OPPD expects to have their service restored by early this evening.
Those final restorations will end a week of hard work for repair crews who battled poor roads, ankle-deep mud, and extensive and inaccessible damage to turn on the lights for 2200 customers originally impacted by the storm. Up to 10 inches of heavy, wet snow brought down about 225 power poles, damaged another 500 pole crossarms, and sent a considerable amount of electric power line to the ground. The heaviest damage occurred in the extreme southeast corner of the state, with outages in Richardson, Pawnee, Johnson and Nemaha Counties.
OPPD crews started working on restoration when the first outages were reported, and were joined in the effort by additional personnel from Nebraska Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System and Meyers Electric. Overall, the work proceeded well, especially given the challenges.
Accessibility was a problem throughout the restoration process. Some work required bulldozers to literally drag utility service vehicles through heavy mud from one repair location to another. Even area farmers pitched in, adding their four-wheel-drive tractors to the task of pulling utility vehicles through the mud.
OPPD's offices in Tecumseh and Humboldt remain were closed during the restoration process to allow crews and office personnel to focus on the repair activities. They are expected to reopen Monday for business as usual.
Area residents are cautioned to treat every downed line as a live wire.
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