INDIANAPOLIS — More than 100,000 customers remain without power Friday after severe storms Thursday afternoon. The City of Indianapolis is providing cooling centers and free meals for those affected as temperatures rise.
In a press conference with AES and the City on Friday, AES said approximately half of AES customers power has been restored from peak outages around 81,000.
AES said crews continue to work through significant tree damage but the severity of damage caused by fallen trees and lighting could make this a “multi-day restoration effort,” meaning some customers could be waiting until at least tomorrow for restored power. They reported 2,600 incidents of tree damage.
AES Indiana said additional crews have been brought in from Illinois, Ohio and Tennesee.
Additionally, AES notes the weekend forecast from The National Weather Services places the AES Indiana service territory under a slight severe storm risk today from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. "All hazards are possible, but damaging winds will be the primary threat," AES said.
Officials said Cooling Centers will be available at Indy Parks Family Centers today and tomorrow until 8 p.m. Meals will also be provided for youth 18 and under today. You can find a cooling center near you at indy.gov: Indy Parks Family Centers.
Indy Parks Family Centers are open until 8 p.m. 6/30 and 7/1 as cooling centers. Additionally, they will be offering their summer meal programs to all youth 18 and under today. Find a location near you by looking at the serving sites here https://t.co/ob7H8RJmwy @IndyParksandRec pic.twitter.com/DdEa0VPVUN
— AES Indiana (@AESIndiana) June 30, 2023
The City of Carmel will also have a cooling center available located at Northview Church.
The City is also advising residents to stay hydrated as a heat advisory will be in effect this weekend and to stay away from power lines.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department asks people to call the department if there is any immediate danger or issues with traffic lights.
AES urges customers experiencing extended outage durations to have an emergency back-up plan in place. Customers can find safety and outage tips by going to www.aesindiana.com/safety-tips.
AES will use social media to update customers. Updates will also be made to www.aesindiana.com/storm-updates [aesindiana.com].
Power-specific tips from AES: During an outage, turn off electrical appliances and unplug major equipment, including air conditioning units, computers and televisions. Power sometimes comes back in surges, which can damage electronics. Your circuits could overload when power returns if all your electronics are still on and plugged in. Leave one light on to indicate that power has been restored. Wait a few minutes then turn on other appliances and equipment one at a time.
As of Friday aftrnoon, Duke Energy still has 84,000 power outages. They released a statement saying more than 108,000 customers had power restored overnight, but it will take more time to get their remaining customers to have power.
“We are bringing in a small army to supplement our statewide workforce and speed power restoration,” said Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar. “Our priority is always to restore service as quickly and safely as possible, and we appreciate our customers’ patience. We’re also keeping an eye on the weather because there’s the potential for more storms that could hamper restoration.”
Thursday's storms came with high winds and hail, and knocked down many trees and power lines as it traveled across the state.
Montgomery County Emergency Management confirmed 74 mph winds were detected during the storms with 1 ¼” diameter hail.
Shelby County Central Dispatch says they received between 50 to 75 calls for trees or power lines down. Officials also responded to a barn fire that a witness said was struck by lightning.
Hamilton County Emergency Management says they’ve had 31 electrical lines down, four transformer fires, eight residence fires and 114 traffic hazards. The county also reported one tree on a residence, but it did displace the residents.
Rush County Emergency Management officials reported one person was injured when a large tree fell on her Jeep. She was transported to Rush Memorial Hospital. Her children were also in the vehicle but were uninjured.
The Indianapolis Fire Department says they responded to the following:
- 104 power lines down
- 24 transformer/utility pole investigations
- 20 EMS related incidents
- 12 residence fire investigations
- 10 tree fires
- 9 vehicle accidents
- 8 stuck elevators
- 7 building alarms
- 3 collapse runs
No other injuries or significant structural damages have currently been reported by Emergency Management officials.
