Storm repairs could cause more temporary Lexington power outages in neighborhoods
Hundreds of Lexington Kentucky Utilities customers in the Kenwick and Fairway neighborhoods suddenly lost power late Friday morning — over a day after an ice storm left thousands across the state without electricity.
About 910 customers in the neighborhood just off Richmond Road were affected, KU’s outage map showed. The outage began around 11:35 a.m. and was restored before 2 p.m. Across Fayette County, 345 KU customers were without power by Friday afternoon.
A tree caught in a power line in the area caused the outage, said KU spokesperson Daniel Lowry. To remove the tree safely, crews had to de-energize the line. When the tree was free of the line, crews could restore power.
In the coming days, customers may see more outages “here and there,” Lowry said. KU crews are working to try to restore power to all of its customers across the state by midnight Friday, although in places with widespread outages, repairs may go into Saturday morning.
Ice can weigh tree limbs down and cause them to come into contact with power lines, Lowry said. The melting of that ice can also cause a limb to retract and strike a line again.
“We kind of get it coming and going, so to speak,” Lowry said.
Customers may also experience a “flicker” if a tree briefly touches a power line, Lowry said. The flicker is caused when a limb strikes a line and activates a safety mechanism that will de-energize a line for a moment and then come back on when the tree is free.
Though icy precipitation ended Thursday morning, sub-freezing temperatures have left many trees weighed down by ice. More winter weather could also be on its way, WKYT-TV Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey wrote on Friday. Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain could begin to impact Central Kentucky as early as Sunday night, while Eastern Kentucky could face an ice storm.
“Let’s cut straight to the point here, with ice still on trees and power lines and some people likely to still be without electric, this has the potential to become a serious situation,” Bailey wrote. “Areas getting in on heavy freezing rain could have major issues with power outages.”
Lowry said KU is prepping for the potential storms after an already long week. The company is in constant contact with meteorologists monitoring the storm.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 12:42 PM.