Out-of-state utility crews brought in to assist with power restoration

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Thousands of Kentuckians are still without power.

Kentucky Utilities say that they’re working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. They’ve called in crews from other states to help get the lights back on.

“This is the third most significant storm event that we have had on our system in 20 years,” said Daniel Lowry, a spokesperson for KU. “At the height, we had more than 300,000 customers across LG&E and KU that were without power.”

But Lowry says they’ve seen a lot of progress so far as crews have been staying busy working 16-hour shifts to get the lights back on.

“They’re dealing with broken poles, downed wires...We have a couple of thousand downed wires,” said Lowry.

KU has about 500 crews that have been working to restore power. But starting pn Sunday, they’re adding even more crews from their out-of-state mutual assistance partners.

“These crews from neighboring states are here to help us. So when they get all active, we’ll have a couple of thousand folks that are busy with the process,” said Lowry.

The crews are meeting at the Kentucky Horse Park for staging before rolling out to restore power.

“We’re working hard. Please be patient with us,” said Lowry. “Three to four days is way too long to be without power. We understand that. We understand that this is a multi-day restoration event, so we’re trying to get folks back.”

Lowry says he’s hopeful that KU will establish a time of restoration soon, maybe even at some point Sunday evening.

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