Kentucky Utilities works to get power back to customers

Lexington, Ky. (WTVQ) –Well after those heavy winds on Friday, thousands of Kentuckians lost power.

Daniel Lowry with Kentucky Utilities spoke about what they saw.

“The biggest impact usually from wind is knocking tree limbs and trees down and knocking limbs into our lines,” said Lowry.

Friday night, nearly 15,000 Kentuckians were without power. Luckily crews were already prepared to get the power turned back on.

“Thankfully it was manageable. I mean our crews have been able to restore power. In the KU service territory about 7,000 customers were impacted because of the high winds.”

Lowry says in events when there’s severe weather, it’s all hands on deck.

“Last I checked we had about a couple dozen scattered throughout Kentucky. Only a handful in Lexington, maybe a couple without power.”

Friday night’s wind warning wasn’t a solo event that made it hard for utility companies to get the power turned back on.

“We had quite a few downed wires, around 50 or so yesterday.”

Daniels says normally during any kind of severe weather event, they can get back online in hours.

But it was the back-to-back wind storms throughout the week that had utility companies working round the clock.

“The bad thing is this comes off the heels of a big wind event on Tuesday. And then we get hit again with more high winds.”

Now that the high wind warnings are over, Lowry says the next power challenge will be keeping the heat on.

“And now we’re bracing for some cold weather on Monday, some extreme cold that’s coming in but we’re ready for that too.”