Blizzard leaves nearly 82,000 in Omaha, Council Bluffs without power

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Wednesday’s blizzard left tens of thousands without power as winds snapped utilty poles; while messy travel throughout the city made it difficult for crews to get where they needed to be to get the lights back on.

Around 1:30 p.m., Omaha Police were warning that many north-facing stoplights througout the city were covered over with snow, preventing drivers from seeing whether they were red or green. Stoplights were also impacted by the widespread power outages in the area.

Omaha Public Power District was showing about 95,000 customers without power across the metro and into neighboring counties at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to the utility’s outage map.

OPPD told First Alert 6 a few minutes later that it was shaping up to be the fifth-largest outage they’ve dealt with, surpassing the 2020 derecho outages.

“Strong, gusting winds have toppled several dozen poles and many overhead wires throughout our service territory. A lot of roads are unpassable due to heavy snow, icy conditions and poor visibility, especially in rural areas. This makes it extremely difficult to complete damage assessments and repairs,” OPPD said in a 3 p.m. update, noting that crews were planning to “work around the clock” to restore power.

Omaha Police moved response efforts to personal-injury crashes only at about 2:30 p.m. Road conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day Wednesday, the blizzard conditions making it difficult for plows and utility crews to address increasing power outages reported throughout the Omaha-metro area.

Reports of downed power lines and trees were coming in from different parts of the viewing area throughout the afternoon.

The total number of power outages ramped up pretty quickly throughout the afternoon. At 2:30 p.m., OPPD’s outage map showed more than 91,000 customers without power, including nearly 57,000 in Douglas County and more than 14,000 in Sarpy County. Further west, Saunders County had 8,200.

About 30 minutes earlier, OPPD was reporting more than 88,000 customers without power: nearly 55,000 in Douglas County and 14,000 in Sarpy County. At 1:30 p.m., OPPD outages were closer to 80,000, including 52,000 in Douglas County; 12,000 in Sarpy County; and Saunders County had 7,700.

Further west, Washington County had reporting between 5,700 and 6,000 outages throughout the afternoon; Dodge County has had about 3,300.

OPPD’s 12:30 p.m. update said that crews had determined that about 50-60 utility poles had been “knocked down by strong winds.”

“With the weather not yet letting up, we’re expecting to see the outage situation get worse before it gets better,” the update says.

MidAmerican Energy outages in the Council Bluffs area seemed to peak around 2:30 p.m., when totals had spiked to more than 11,000 outages, after jumping to 6,400 just after 2 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., MAE was showing just under 5,000 outages for the area.

Earlier in the afternoon, at 1:50 p.m., the utility was reporting 3,400 outages in the Council Bluffs area. Further north, nearly 8,200 customers were without power in Sioux City. In the Storm Lake area, about 1,200 were without power, and nearly 8,500 outages were reported in the Fort Dodge area.

Forty minutes earlier those numbers were at 2,800 in the Council Bluffs area; 7,500 in Sioux City; 1,200 in the Storm Lake area; and nearly 6,000 outages around Fort Dodge.

At about 1:30 p.m., OPPD’s outage map showed more than 80,000 customers without power, including 52,000 in Douglas County and 12,000 in Sarpy County. Further west, Washington County was reporting 5,700 outages, Dodge County had about 3,300, and Saunders County had 7,700.

OPPD was reporting more than 30,000 customers without power just before noon Wednesday. About a half-hour later, that total was 48,000 across Sarpy, Washington, Saunders, and Dodge counties.

In an earlier update, OPPD said crews were responding as quickly and as safely as possible in areas with outages but that windy conditions and low visibility were making the response challenging.

“We thank our impacted customers for their patience during this time. We are working on getting mutual aid support to help in our restoration work,” OPPD said.

Outages began shortly after midnight in Douglas County and spread from there.

OPPD also says there are dozens of utility poled broken and wires down, due to the strong winds. They ask for the public to be safe around downed lines, and to assume they are live and high voltage.

Across the state, Nebraska Public Power District crews were handling more than 10,300 power outages on Wednesday. At 9:30 a.m., an NPPD official reported about 3,300 outages in York; 2,500 in Aurora; about a 1,00 in Genva, and 970 in Kearney. By 3:30 p.m., those outages were down to about 6,800.

DRIVING CONDITIONS

Dodge is closing west of 192nd Street due to the road conditions, as well as a jackknifed semi. Drivers are asked to avoid the area.

Meteorologist Jaret Lansford says the worst time to be driving is from the late morning to the early afternoon Wednesday. Rain changing to snow from 7-9 a.m. caused issues for drivers in the morning commute.

“The snow may melt initially but, as it picks up, should begin to accumulate rather quickly,” Lansford says.

Winds will gust up to 70 miles per hour as the snow falls, making travel very difficult, according to Lansford.

Due to a warm past couple of days, as well as rain, the streets have not been pre-treated for Wednesday’s conditions.

Omaha Public Works says snow plows will mainly be working on the main roads. Officials say high winds and blowing snow may slow the process of crews getting into residential areas.

INTERSTATE CLOSINGS

A section of Interstate 80 closed Wednesday in central Nebraska as officials warned that travel was not advised due to worsening weather conditions expected as the day wore on.

By the afternoon, I-80 was closed from Gretna to North Platte.

Blizzard Warnings are also in place for areas along and north of I-80, including the metro, on Wednesday.

Northbound and southbound Interstate 29 from Sergeant Bluff to Missouri Valley is also closed. The Iowa Department of Transportation said there is low visibility, stranded vehicles, and downed powerlines across the interstate.

“Conditions are rapidly deteriorating in the area, including on alternative routes,” Iowa DOT said in a release.

Highway 133 is also closed at County Road 34 due to multiple semis blocking the roadway.

“Visibility is zero. Please stay home,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.

CLOSINGS AND DELAYS

Several school districts were among those canceling classes for Wednesday: Bennington, Blair, Council Bluffs, Fremont, Papillion-LaVista, Plattsmouth, and Ralston; while Millard planned to go remote. Some other districts are on Spring Break.

Creighton University’s campus is closed Wednesday, and the University of Nebraska - Omaha will go remote.

Waste collection in Omaha has been canceled Wednesday and will resume Thursday, according to Wasteline. Pick-up for Council Bluffs residents has also been canceled.

Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Fremont, Blair, Papillion, Eagle, and La Vista have declared snow emergencies Wednesday.

Drivers are asked to keep an eye out so they do not accidentally park along an emergency snow route.

The Metro transit is running on Snow Route B for 11 routes. Routes 13, 15, and 55 are taking Snow Route A.

Still, Metro says conditions could change their plans throughout the day. They ask that customers who travel to or from Council Bluffs keep a close eye on their alerts.

METRO CRASHES

There have been numerous crashes reported in the metro early Wednesday as the day got started.

In the 5 a.m. hour, there was a crash on JFK southbound just south of I-80. In the 7 a.m. hour, there was a crash at I-680 northbound at West Dodge Road.

Shortly before 8 a.m., a crash on eastbound I-80 caused backups in the northbound lanes near L Street. Another cash on 228th and Dodge caused backups in both directions.

A crash on I-80 westbound to I-680 northbound had reports of a semi in the median.

In the 11 a.m. hour, a jackknifed semi on the ramp from westbound I-680 to Blair High was also reported.

West Dodge Road was also closed at 192nd Street at about 11:30 a.m. It reopened about three hours later, though Omaha Police was still advising against travel in the area.

CANCELED FLIGHTS

The blizzard has also impacted travel at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield, with a number of flights canceled or delayed.

Both departures and arrivals have been canceled for a majority of the day Wednesday.

Travelers are asked to make sure to check their flight status before heading to the airport. If you are picking someone up, you will also want to check the flight status.

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This is a developing story. Stay with First Alert 6 for updates.

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