11K Still Without Power Five Days After Storm

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – More than 11,000 customers were still without power Sunday morning, five days after the severe windstorm that knocked out electricity to more than 180,000 residences across northern Utah.

Crews have been making steady progress restoring power, turning the lights back on to approximately 10,000 customers in a span of 24 hours.

On Saturday, Rocky Mountain Power reported more than 21,000 customers without power.

“Crews will continue to work all weekend until everyone’s lights are on,” the company tweeted.

On the job tonight in Salt Lake City. We're working as quickly and safely as possible around the clock to restore power. pic.twitter.com/I1oHRmDEjE

— Rocky Mountain Power UT (@RMP_Utah) September 13, 2020

“While the majority of customers were restored to service Thursday, the localized damage and nature of the repairs has been extensive,” according to a statement from Rocky Mountain Power. “… Repairs will continue until service to all customers is restored. The company is acutely aware of how difficult it is for those who have been without service, and thanks them for their continued patience.”

The company stated that the hurricane-force storm presented Rocky Mountain Power with “an unprecedented challenge” because it affected a large amount of customers not only in Utah, but also in Wyoming and Idaho.

Additional crews from Iowa and Nevada traveled to Utah to help restore power in northern Utah.

“As the company focuses on more localized areas of damage, it is important to note that the work becomes more labor-intensive,” according to RMP. “Earlier, repairs to substations and main circuits could restore a thousand customers at a time, whereas each repair job in later stages typically restores far fewer customers, so the company asks customers for continued patience as crews work their way to the final restoration of service. The good news is, with the help of the additional line crews, that work will go faster.”