SALT LAKE CITY — Tuesday’s windstorm left more than 170,000 people without power across Utah. As of late Thursday afternoon, more than 55,000 people were still without power according to Rocky Mountain Power’s website.
Crews from Idaho and Nevada traveled to Utah this week to begin help restoring power. The goal is to have everyone’s, or at least most people’s, power back on by Thursday night, Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson Spencer Hall, said.
“We’ve been working the last couple days on the backbone of the system repair substation, transmission and now today is that final push to get everybody back,” he said.
The response was extremely difficult because the windstorm was so widespread, Hall said.
Many people have been without power for three days, like Lynn Whitecar and her husband who live in Salt Lake City.
The couple was out of town when they got the call about the windstorm.
“I didn’t really worry about it. We’ve had winds before,” Whitecar said.
This was a windstorm like no one has seen in Utah before. The Whitecar’s car and fence where smashed by on of the trees in their backyard.
“You couldn’t even see my car underneath the tree until the limbs were cut away,” she said.
While the couple is continuing to clean up, Whitecar admits having no power comes with its own challenges.
“I am working remotely, and I am unable to do that,” she said.
Next door, homeowner Mary Rakowski said she bought her home back in 1984 and is shocked by the damage in her neighborhood from the storm.
“There was one other time when some of the branches came down, but it was nothing like this,” she said.
If you are experiencing a power outage, report it to Rocky Mountain Power here.
