Power Issues Remain Wednesday Night For City of Hastings

(Hastings, NE) - As of 8:30 pm on Wednesday the city of Hastings reported that there was currently a few more than 700 outages remaining.

Linemen will stagger ending times, so crews will work around the clock. Crews are working upwards of 16-hour days.

The electric distribution department appreciates everyone who was able to run on generators.

Crews will not stop working to get power restored in Juniata, which is one of the longest areas affected. Four poles are broken along 12th Street along the north Juniata electric feed, including a corner pole with a full set of transformers. Once that feed is up and running, power will be restored in Juniata. There are also four poles broken on the south Juniata feed near the DLD Road. That feed was more difficult to access due to the amount of snow removal in that area.

Throughout the service area, including Hastings, electric distribution crews are using GIS information based on outage reports to make those repairs with an emphasis on areas containing several outages. Making repairs during this storm was difficult because the blowing snow and the wind kept up for so long, making it hard to locate problems. So crews were not able to start clearing problems until late morning.

Also of note, for Hastings-area residents still without power and in need of a warm place to stay, Crossroads Rescue Mission at 702 W. 14th St., is opening its doors to the public.