Outage repairs for thousands of Xcel Energy customers remain ongoing Friday afternoon

Krystal Frasier KSTP

Minnesotans and Wisconsinites are continuing their struggle with power outages on Friday.

Xcel Energy’s outage map showed on Friday afternoon that more than 6,500 customers remained in the dark, with more than 400 total outages reported. During the morning hours, those numbers stook at roughly 12,000 customers and 750 separate outages.

On Thursday night, Xcel Energy reported more than 18,000 customers in both states were without power as of 9:15 p.m., down from the 40,000 earlier in the night.

Crews have had a busy week rushing to make repairs after the rounds of storms. On Thursday, Xcel wrote on its restoration effort update page that crews had replaced the equivalent of 14 miles of wire and more than 250 power poles.

CLICK HERE to learn how Xcel prioritizes where power is restored first. You can also find the status of your outage by CLICKING HERE. The utility provider also gave the following tips based on how long your outage lasts:

  • 1-2 hours: turn on a light to be alerted when power is restored.
  • 2-4 hours: Keep food safe by making sure your refrigerator and freezer doors stay shut as much as possible to main the temperature.
  • 4-8 hours: Consider how to keep mobile devices charged – it’s possible to use a laptop or car charger or visit a coffee shop and community center.
  • 8-12 hours: Any food in your fridge after eight hours without power may start to spoil and no longer be safe to eat. Keep food in a cooler surrounded by ice.
  • More than 12 hours: Check on elderly and vulnerable neighbors.

Check with your insurance company to see if it will provide coverage for food loss due to a power outage. If you can submit a food loss claim, you can potentially expedite that process by having documentation of the food that was loss, pictures of the loss, an estimated expense of the lost food and receipts for expensive items such as steak or some seafood.

The good news for those without power is that no severe weather is expected in the next seven days, and conditions are forecasted to be less humid. Highs are expected to range from the upper 70s to mid-80s for the next week. You can find the latest forecast from Minnesota’s Weather Authority by CLICKING HERE.

CLICK HERE for a list of utility providers and links to their outage maps.

Make sure to download the KSTP app for all of your streaming devices to get the latest weather alerts for your area. You can do so by CLICKING HERE.