Two Nebraska power crews are heading to Oklahoma to help after an ice storm knocked power out for hundreds of thousands of people.
The Nebraska Public Power District says over 320,000 customers in Oklahoma are currently without electricity following the wide-spread ice storm earlier this week.
Thursday morning, 15 Omaha Public Power Department employees left Omaha for Oklahoma City. The OPPD employees on their way to Oklahoma include one field supervisor, 12 line technicians on four and two transportation mechanics.
NPPD says two supervisors and 12 line technicians will leave Friday morning from their York Operations Center with necessary vehicles and equipment to provide mutual aid in power restoration. Line technicians responding will be from NPPD operations in Ainsworth, Ogallala, Scottsbluff, Kearney, O’Neill, Norfolk, Plattsmouth, Atkinson, Humboldt, and Rushville.
The utilities say crews will be working to assist Oklahoma Gas & Electric in Oklahoma City, which has a reported 246,000 customers without electricity as of Thursday morning.
OPPD says the severity of the repairs means crews are projected to be in Oklahoma through November 8th. They say the long duration is also due to a limited number of available crews who could help due to recent hurricanes, which have pulled most mutual aid crews to that area. More than 1 million customers are without power in that region.
NPPD is a member of the Midwest Mutual Aid Group that coordinates power restoration support from various utilities following power outages created by hurricanes, tornadoes, ice and snowstorms, and other natural disasters.
(Photo by OPPD)