A wind storm with gusts as high as 30 miles per hour continues to cause damage across the central Kenai Peninsula, leaving nearly 6,000 residents without power Thursday. Outages began yesterday morning with Homer Electric Association linemen working into the night to restore power. As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, 9,050 customers are still without power from Nikiski to Clam Gulch.
The most affected communities include Kenai, Soldotna, Sterling, Nikiski and Kasilof. HEA spokesperson KeriAnne Baker says linemen as far as Homer have come to the area to help restore power.
“Our guys are working really, really hard, and we would just appreciate everyone’s patience during this time and keeping them in your minds as they work as fast as they can to get the power turned on,” Baker said.
The outages have been caused primarily by fallen trees. Baker attributes an increase in dead and hazardous trees to spruce bark beetles.
HEA reminds its customers that if you have a hazardous tree on your property, they will remove it free of charge. A “hazard tree” can be defined as a live or dead tree that is leaning toward a power line. The co-op also reminds you to never touch a downed powerline.
