After storms, thousands in Monroe County remain without power. What you need to know. - The Herald-Times

Thousands in Bloomington remain without power. What you need to know.

After storms, thousands in Monroe County remain without power. What you need to know.
Boris Ladwig

This story may be updated.

Thousands in Monroe County remained without power Friday morning after damaging storms ripped through Indiana. Duke Energy said the storms, with winds as high as 90 mph, cut power to more than 200,000 Hoosiers.

As of 7 a.m. Friday, 94,200 Duke Energy customers in Indiana remained without power, including thousands in the Bloomington area. An outage map shortly before 10 a.m. still showed more than 4,000 customers were without power in the heart of Bloomington. More than 1,000 also were still without power on the city's east side, another 2,000 on the city's west side, more than 1,000 at Lake Monroe and nearly 400 in Ellettsville.

Duke Energy said close to noon that about 13,000 customers remained without power, down from a high of 25,000.

Duke could not be reached immediately to say when power would be restored, but the company said it had a "small army" out to repair damage to its system.

Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said the company was doing a statewide damage assessment at 10 a.m. Friday but soon after that planned to be able to say when power would be restored.

The company said in a news release it was bringing in personnel from Ohio, Kentucky and the Carolinas to aid local crews. Duke said it would restore power as quickly and safely as possible but warned that more severe weather might hamper those efforts.

"We had significant damage on our electric transmission system, which includes power lines and structures that are our major carriers of power," the utility said. "Extended outages are possible, however, in the hardest hit areas."

Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC said in a news release that it still had nearly 8,000 customers without power. It said the storms affected some major substations and could not yet give a time as to when power would be restored.

Monroe County Highway Department and Bloomington Street Department warned drivers to be aware of possible trees and power lines in roadways as well as traffic lights without power. Officials urged traffic participants to remain cautious.

A city crew with dump trucks and loaders cut 23 trees from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday. Herb Kinser, a superintendent with the city department, said the work occurred all over town.

Toby Turner, superintendent with the county department, said crews had removed trees from roads, but some trees remained in power lines and would not be removed until workers from the energy company arrived.

Kinser said the department was still assessing damage Friday morning and expected to get more calls as people head out into the city.

"Be patient with us," he asked.

Road closings because of storm

Roads in Monroe County that may be closed or obstructed by trees that involve downed power lines:

- Whitethorn Place
- Buick Drive
- Earl Young Road
- Bowman Road
- Old Ind. 37 South
- Rockport Road
- Boltinghouse Road
- Brock Road
- Woodyard Road
- Everett Arnold Drive
- Koontz Road
- Stipp Road
- Rockport Road
- Victor Pike
- Smithville Road
- Mallory Road
- Leonard Springs Road South

Safety tips and where to get more information on power outage

Duke Energy provided the following safety tips:

- Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all power lines energized, as well as trees, limbs or anything in contact with lines.
- If a power line falls across a vehicle that you are in, stay in the vehicle. If you must get out of the vehicle due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the vehicle and land on both feet. Be sure that no part of your body is touching the vehicle when your feet touch the ground.
- Turn off appliances and other electrical devices that may have been on when the power went out, so there’s not an immediate surge on the system when power is restored.

You can report an outage by calling 800-343-3525. You can get updates on outages by texting REG to 57801 or sign up at duke-energy.com/outagealerts.

What should I do with food in my refrigerator during a power outage?

If power to your refrigerator has been out for more than four hours, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said perishable foods, including meat, chicken and other poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers, should be thrown out.

"A full freezer will keep food safe for 48 hours (24 hours if half-full) without power if you don’t open the door. Your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to 4 hours without power if you don’t open the door," the agency says on its website.

"You can safely refreeze or cook food from the freezer if the food still contains ice crystals and feels as cold as if refrigerated. Check this FoodSafety.gov chart for a list of what foods you should throw out and foods you can refreeze."

"Unsafe food can make you sick even if it looks and smells normal," the agency said. "When in doubt, throw it out."

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.