30-04-2025
26k+ still powerless: CU talks Wednesday repair plans
SPRINGFIELD — In the worst power outage event in Springfield since 2007, City Utilities is referring to this as a 'prolonged power outage event'.
In the video above, you can see the full interview between Ozarks First News Anchor Jesse Inman, and Joel Alexander, Media Relations Manager for City Utilities. Alexander stopped by Ozarks First morning show 'Daybreak' on Wednesday to break down what crews are up against as we head into Wednesday.
Alexander says a large-scale emergency was declared Tuesday afternoon allowing them to call in mutual-aid crews. Ozarks First asked the question on everyone's mind this morning: How long until power is fully restored?
'We really can't give an estimate on individual customers, or a full restoration on this. It's just too soon to tell,' Alexander told Ozarks First News Anchor Jesse Inman. 'We're just 24 hours into this, basically. Our crews are working around the clock to get people restored just as quickly as we can.'
The scale of the outages are being compared to the ice storm of 2007 that crippled power to tens of thousands of customers at that time. However, Alexander points out some difference between that storm, and the damage seen from Tuesday's storms. 'Public works is actually out using dozers and heavy duty equipment to get trees that are on the streets off, so that we can even get in,' says Alexander.
Wind from the storms measured at nearly 90 mph on Tuesday, toppling trees and power lines. No tornado has been confirmed yet in Springfield, although the National Weather Service will continue surveying damage this morning.
As of approximately 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, City Utilities estimates about 26,500 people are still without power, which is about half of what CU saw at the peak of outages. Alexander says crews worked overnight, which he says is dangerous and much slower than daytime work. As for the plan on Wednesday, Alexander describes it as all-hands-on-deck.
'We're going to have at least 100 lineman that are going to be out there. We'll have support crews, and tree trimming crews. We're going to see a lot of change in the outage number as we go throughout the day, and this is going to be a long term event,' Alexander says, adding that there is a priority list CU has on certain places to make sure the community is still functioning such as hospitals. That doesn't necessarily mean that certain neighborhoods will take priority.
'We try to look at the areas we can make that largest impact of bringing customers back on. It's not necessarily that we take those calls as they come in. Some of those are maybe outages in the backyard that require special equipment, or we may climb up the pole and make that repair. Some of it may be that we can bring a feeder or a substation back on and bring a larger number of customers back on.'
Check out the full interview in the video above to hear about homes with damaged weather heads damaged service entry points can make repairs take even longer, and what customers facing that situation must do before CU can start making repairs on it.
The utility company also stresses that if you see downed power lines, do not go near them.
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