Crews restore all power by Monday night

Monday, April 6, 2009 - 8:47 am

Tuesday, April 6, 2009
Butler Public Power District crews and extra help crews restored power to the last people waiting in northern Butler County by Monday evening.

Around 60 powerline poles were knocked down after wires were coated with ice and then high winds got them "galloping" until many of the poles broke.
As many as 3,000 people were without electricity from the period of late Saturday through Monday, said Gary Westphal, BPPD general manager.

"We called in crews from Seward County PPD and a contractor from West Point to assist in recovery efforts," Westphal said.


"We generally breathe a sigh of relief once March passes, but this year, April brought surprises," "I deeply appreciate the crews’ efforts working in such miserable conditions, with such a passion to get the lights back on."

In DavidCity, the north half of the city was without power for much of Sunday morning. Pat Hoeft, Power and Light Department superintendent, said that a transformer in the northeast corner of the city was affected by the high winds and ice on lines. Lines in town also were broken or shorted when ice laden trees landed on them. Hoeft said that Nebraska Public Power District officials also had their share of outages, and it the city pondered whether it would be starting up DavidCity's generators. DavidCity buys electricity from NPPD.

City street crews had the heavy, wet snow cleared across the city by early Sunday afternoon.

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