Outages expected to be restored by mid-day Thursday

WH anticipates all outages from the severe weather on July 5 will be restored by mid-day on Thursday, July 7.

Posted on July 6, 2016

Dear WH Members,

The severe storm that ripped through our service territory yesterday, July 5, caused extensive damage and many power outages. At one point, almost 11,000 members lost power as the result of 150 outages scattered throughout our service territory.

As of 2 p.m. on July 6, we have about 700 members without power. We realize this outage has already been long for many of you and we thank you for your patience.

The outage has been lengthened due to the sheer scale of damage. High winds snapped utility poles and tangled lines in many areas, making restoration much more difficult. If you have been on the road since yesterday afternoon, you’ve seen the extensive tree damage for yourself.

Originally, we estimated earlier restoration times. But having now been on site across our service area, the damage is even more widespread than first anticipated. In some cases, it is taking hours to clear trees in the road and around power poles.

Please know we have all available crews working along with eight extra bucket trucks. To give you a better idea of what they face in the field, please take a look at the photos below.

We now estimate that all power will be restored by tomorrow, July 7, at midday. Some of you will have your power restored sooner than this and in any case, we will continue to work around the clock.

Since this outage will be longer than 24 hours for some, we want to make sure you are prepared. Generally, food that is in your freezer will stay cold for about 24 hours. If you are one of the members experiencing a longer outage, you might consider transferring items to family or friend’s freezer until your power is restored. Fridge items may be put in coolers with ice.

Again, we appreciate your ongoing patience and understanding. We will work as efficiently and safely as we can to get your lights back on as quickly as we can. In the meantime, if you need to report and outage, please call (763) 477-3100 or report it online.

You can also view WH’s outage map at: https://outage.whe.org/

Sincerely,

The WH team

Broken power line poles in a field. Snapped power line poles in a ditch. Power lines near a substation on the ground. Wright-Hennepin line crews repairing lines. An irrigation system wrapped up in power lines.