Christmas Night Winds Cause Power Outages

Northwest Iowa — Over 1000 people were without power for a time on Christmas Day evening in Sioux and O’Brien counties.

Debora K. Blume, Director of Communications with MidAmerican Energy reports that wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour, heavy rain, and lightning resulted in a significant number of downed trees and power lines and caused damage to their electric distribution equipment on Christmas night when a storm blew into northwest Iowa just after 9 p.m.

Customers started reporting outages at approximately 9:20 p.m. MidAmerican Energy Company line mechanics, electrical contractors, and tree crews worked through the night to assess and repair damage from the December 25th storm. Crews reported a number of broken or damaged poles and trees or tree branches on power lines.

She says that while the vast majority of customers had power restored by Monday morning, some customers in the hardest-hit areas like Sioux City were without power until early Monday evening. Nearly 1,800 customers in Sioux City lost power.

Weather reports showed severe weather was expected throughout much of MidAmerican Energy’s service area and Blume says MidAmerican began to closely monitor weather forecasts starting on Friday to assess and identify areas with the highest potential for strong winds. She says they activated their storm planning process and took the necessary steps to prepare for possible difficult weekend weather conditions.

Outages were reported in the following locations:

Blume says that with the arrival of winter, comes the chance for outages caused by high winds, ice and snow. She says the weekend storm was a good reminder to have an outage safety kit ready to go that includes flashlights, a battery-powered radio, extra batteries and extra blankets and warm sweaters.