Power Outage Update

Owatonna Public Utilities reports a peak of 4,300 to 4,500 customers without power after the Thursday storms. As of 10AM that number had been dropped to around 3,500 without power and crews continues to work to restore power. They are working on primary lines that feed transformers and once that portion is done, work will continue on single phase power which feeds off the above mentioned lines. Property owners that detect damage to their electrical mast or the pole that runs alongside your building carrying power lines should contact an electrician first before calling OPU.

One area around Owatonna that was particularly hit hard was on the west side with OPU reporting 9 power poles snapped off. It was also just west of town where a barn and quonset  hut were lost in the storms.

Xcel Energy reported a peak of around 50,000 without power in Minnesota and Wisconsin. By early this morning that number was down to around 30,000.