MidAmerican crews race to restore power across the metro
Cleanup efforts from city crews across the Des Moines metro continue Thursday afternoon following strong winds from storms that caused widespread tree damage and power outages.In West Des Moines, Public Works crews began working shortly after 9 a.m. and spent the day clearing debris from parks, streets and neighborhoods. By Noon, they received about two dozen reports. City officials tell KCCI the winds caused considerable tree damage and knocked down power lines in some areas.One spot crews were seen cleaning up was at Scenic Valley Park across from Raccoon River Park. A large tree limb fell by the playground. The work still continues, which is why they’re asking residents to be safe and keep their eyes open. “Just be mindful of the trees. You never know if there’s hangers in a tree that we haven’t seen yet or we haven’t responded to,” said Austin Decker, urban forestry supervisor for the City of West Des Moines. “Additionally, live power lines. We’ve seen a number of power lines down. It’s good to be safe around those. You never know if they’re energized or not.”MidAmerican Energy crews are also working across Central Iowa, including throughout the Des Moines metro, to restore power after the storms.The utility company said the widespread nature of the storms is what made this round challenging. At the peak of the outages, about 15,800 MidAmerican Energy customers were without power across the state, including around 9,300 in the Des Moines metro area. MidAmerican said it had about 325 line workers deployed across Iowa.”We’ve been able to make a lot of progress. We’ve got crews working everywhere,” said Geoff Greenwood, a spokesperson for MidAmerican Energy Company. “We’ve also brought in crews from northwest Iowa into the Des Moines area and elsewhere to help our local crews because there’s just a lot of work to do, and we’ve also asked for some assistance from outside our company.”Greenwood said the goal for remaining outages in the Des Moines metro was to restore power by midnight, or by 6 a.m. Friday at the latest, depending on whether additional storms with strong winds move through the area.”Our crews are out working as much as they can. We’re working long days,” said Greenwood. “Those crews are stretching their hours out as much as we can to make sure that they’re still working safely, and then we’re going to 24-hour staffing.”
Cleanup efforts from city crews across the Des Moines metro continue Thursday afternoon following strong winds from storms that caused widespread tree damage and power outages.
In West Des Moines, Public Works crews began working shortly after 9 a.m. and spent the day clearing debris from parks, streets and neighborhoods. By Noon, they received about two dozen reports. City officials tell KCCI the winds caused considerable tree damage and knocked down power lines in some areas.
One spot crews were seen cleaning up was at Scenic Valley Park across from Raccoon River Park. A large tree limb fell by the playground.
The work still continues, which is why they’re asking residents to be safe and keep their eyes open.
“Just be mindful of the trees. You never know if there’s hangers in a tree that we haven’t seen yet or we haven’t responded to,” said Austin Decker, urban forestry supervisor for the City of West Des Moines. “Additionally, live power lines. We’ve seen a number of power lines down. It’s good to be safe around those. You never know if they’re energized or not.”
MidAmerican Energy crews are also working across Central Iowa, including throughout the Des Moines metro, to restore power after the storms.
The utility company said the widespread nature of the storms is what made this round challenging.
At the peak of the outages, about 15,800 MidAmerican Energy customers were without power across the state, including around 9,300 in the Des Moines metro area. MidAmerican said it had about 325 line workers deployed across Iowa.
“We’ve been able to make a lot of progress. We’ve got crews working everywhere,” said Geoff Greenwood, a spokesperson for MidAmerican Energy Company. “We’ve also brought in crews from northwest Iowa into the Des Moines area and elsewhere to help our local crews because there’s just a lot of work to do, and we’ve also asked for some assistance from outside our company.”
Greenwood said the goal for remaining outages in the Des Moines metro was to restore power by midnight, or by 6 a.m. Friday at the latest, depending on whether additional storms with strong winds move through the area.
“Our crews are out working as much as they can. We’re working long days,” said Greenwood. “Those crews are stretching their hours out as much as we can to make sure that they’re still working safely, and then we’re going to 24-hour staffing.”