Power remains out for 1,400+ homes and businesses

Power remains out for many area homes and businesses.

That comes after the ice storm yesterday knocked down trees, branches and power lines throughout the state.

Duke Energy is reporting more than 1,400 Bartholomew County customers still without power as of 8:30 a.m. Friday. Most of those, more than 1,000, are in the areas south of State Road 46 and west of Interstate 65, such as the Tipton Lakes area.

In Jennings County, Duke Energy is reporting about 800 customers still without power and another 450 in Jackson County.

Chip Orben with Duke Energy says that at the height of the outages, more than 100,000 Indiana customers were without power. As of last night, about 24 thousand remained powerless.

Orben says crews are working as quickly and safely as they can to restore power. He says restoring power can be challenging because of the poor travel conditions.

Before power can be restored, crews first assess damage and determine which crews, equipment and supplies will be needed to make repairs, Orben says. Crews prioritize work to ensure the largest number of customers are restored as quickly as possible. Essential services, such as hospitals and emergency response facilities, are the first priority.

To help in the power restoration efforts, he suggests that if you are without power you turn off as many appliances and electronics as possible. That will help reduce the immediate load on the power lines when power comes back. You should then wait a few minutes after power comes back on to turn everything back on.