Duke Energy restores power to more than 108,000 and continues to respond to severe storm damage
PLAINFIELD, Ind. – Duke Energy has restored power to more than 108,000 customers who were affected by the severe and damaging storms that ripped through Indiana Thursday. Winds as high as 90 miles an hour in some areas resulted in more than 202,000 power outages. Approximately 94,200 remain out of service as of about 7 a.m.
The storm caused outages in nearly all of the 28 districts Duke Energy serves in Indiana, particularly in the Western and South-Central parts of the state. Crews have been making repairs while assessment is still underway to determine the full scope of damage.
“We are bringing in a small army to supplement our statewide workforce and speed power restoration,” said Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar. “Our priority is always to restore service as quickly and safely as possible, and we appreciate our customers’ patience. We’re also keeping an eye on the weather because there’s the potential for more storms that could hamper restoration.”
The company is bringing in personnel from Duke Energy operations in Ohio and Kentucky as well as the Carolinas. Contractors who regularly assist the company in storms are also responding.
“We are seeing large numbers of broken poles, trees in power lines and spans of wire down,” Pinegar said. “We also had damage on our electric transmission system, which includes power lines and structures that are our major carriers of power.”
Duke Energy will provide power restoration time estimates once there is more information from damage assessment. Extended outages are possible, however, in the hardest hit areas.