A power outage that affected nearly 3,500 customers in Sarpy County knocked out electricity to two elementary schools and a high school in the Papillion La Vista Community Schools district.
Bell Elementary, at 7909 Reed St., lost power for about 40 minutes, but power had been restored before 10:40 a.m., said Annette Eyman, a school district spokeswoman. Prairie Queen Elementary at 10520 S. 123rd Ave. and Papillion-La Vista South High School at 10799 Highway 370 lost power before 10:30 a.m., she said. Power came back at those schools, she said, around 11:25 a.m.
Classrooms have emergency lighting, Eyman said, so it wasn’t a long-range problem. If the power had stayed out for the rest of the day, she said, classes would have been dismissed early.
Omaha Public Power District officials told district officials that “galloping” power lines caused the outages. OPPD’s website says that when ice freezes on a power line, it forms a teardrop shape, making the line aerodynamic and prone to galloping with the wind.
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When that happens, OPPD says, the lines can slap into each other, causing electricity to jump between two lines, damage equipment on the power pole or even weaken the pole itself.