After 33 hours and a night spent in an unfamiliar bed, hundreds of Broken Bow residents and several businesses are cheering about the news of power being restored to the whole community on Friday.
In a Facebook post Friday afternoon, City Administrator Dave Schmidt said that Custer Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power District have restored power to Broken Bow residents after having to seek warmth and shelter elsewhere for more than a day.
The FB posting also said if you or someone you know is still without service, please contact the Electric Department at 308-872-6424.
An explosion at the Broken Bow power plant at 6:17am Thursday caused a fire, which in turn led to a city-wide power outage. Many residents and businesses had their power restored within an hour, while several hundred other residents had to wait until Friday until the electricity returned in their homes and businesses.
At 11:00am Thursday, Schmidt announced a disaster declaration for the City from Mayor Rod Sonnichsen, which opened the doors to much-needed funds from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
While City crews joined forces with CPPD and NPPD on getting power restored, other City employees and first responders did welfare checks and notified affected residents of where they could seek shelter.
Shelters were opened at the VFW building, North Park School, and Third City Christian Church. Several hotels in Broken Bow also offered reduced rates for those without power.
Meanwhile, emergency firefighting crews continued to deal with hot spots at the power plant after initially extinguishing the blaze sparked by the explosion.
Just after midnight Thursday, Schmidt announced to the media that NPPD’s pre-startup testing revealed a mechanical issue with the mobile substation that was brought to Broken Bow, which prevented it from being put into service to restore power. A second backup unit was mobilized Friday morning and power was restored to the whole city by 4 o’clock Friday.
