Another Round of Winter Weather Brings Widespread Power Outages

By Gordon Hopkins Tens of thousands of southeast Nebraska homes were left without power Wednesday, March 20, and on into Thursday, when blizzard conditions brought wet, heavy snow and high winds that brought down power lines, knocked down utility poles and closed roads, including Interstate 80. In Fairbury, the power outage meant the city's well site operated on backup power for several hours. Water Superintendent Gregg DeFrain asked residents to limit water usage during the emergency.Just as happened two weeks prior when another winter storm hit the area, schools and many businesses closed. The Wymore City Council was scheduled to meet Wednesday evening. The meeting was still held but limited to approving minutes, the treasure's report, a single business item, claims and payroll. Thursday morning, Fairbury Mayor Kelly Davis posted on Facebook, “If you get a chance, thank a city employee for all the work they did yesterday in some very adverse conditions. All departments banded together to do water supply repairs, electrical power line repairs, and picking up trees, limbs and branches. These people worked their tails off throughout the day. I made contact with them several times to see how things were going and to make sure everyone was doing okay, and each time the conversation ended, they would say, ‘we will keep going and we will get it done.’ There is still a lot of work to do, so please show them some patience, and respect!! Thank you, guys, Fairbury is lucky to have you all!!!”

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