OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A second day of Arctic temperatures across Middle America on Tuesday prompted rolling power outages in Nebraska and a call to cut energy use in Iowa.
Residents in Nebraska experiences some of the coldest weather on record early Tuesday, putting a strain on the power grid that saw the state's power utilities implementing rolling outages. In Omaha, the temperature bottomed out at 23 below zero overnight - the coldest in 25 years.
Omaha Public Power District, which serves multiple counties around Omaha, reported around 30,000 customers without power in areas mostly south of Dodge Street, which bisects the city. The Lincoln Electric System reported nearly 15,000 customers without power for a time Tuesday morning as temperatures there dropped to a record low of 31 below, smashing the previous record of 18 below set in 1978.
In Iowa, overnight lows dipped to nearly 30 below zero around Sioux City and wind chills to around 40 below in some places, leading some local power utilities in the state's northern counties to issue some rolling outages. The extreme cold led MidAmerican Energy to issue a plea for residents to dial back power use, and some 150 schools announced delays or closures Tuesday.