A record-breaking windstorm howled through northern Nevada on Saturday, December 14, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. With winds clocked at 82 mph in Reno, Sierra Pacific Power Company's electrical system sustained extensive damage from wind, blowing debris and tree limbs. Approximately 30,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm late Saturday afternoon. With another storm packing winds of 60+ mph pounding northern Nevada on Sunday night, Sierra Pacific crews are working around the clock to assess and repair damage.

A tally of the damage on Monday, December 16 at 5 p.m., showed 4,000 of Sierra Pacific's 140,000 electric customers in the Reno Sparks area still without power. Additional customer outage counts (approximate numbers) include: South Lake Tahoe - 4,000; North Lake Tahoe - 3,300; Walker/Coleville/Topaz/Yerington/Smith Valley - 500; Carson City/Douglas County/Alpine County - 800. Service has been restored to the towns of Portola and Loyalton.

All available resources are working around the clock on service restoration. In addition to operations crews, this includes employees in system control, the service center, warehouse, dispatch, customer service, corporate communications, major accounts, engineering, claims and others.

Additional crews from throughout Sierra Pacific's northern Nevada service area, six crews from Nevada Power Company and several contract line crews are working on system repairs.

Approximately 90 power poles were damaged or destroyed by the windstorm. Damages affected numerous electric transmission lines feeding the areas hard-hit by the storm. Sierra Pacific customers in Minden, Gardnerville and South Lake Tahoe are being asked to implement electricity conservation measures through Wednesday, December 18, until damage affecting transmission lines is repaired.

In the Reno-Sparks area, outages affecting the 4,000 customers still without power are scattered and neighborhood specific. Damage is often isolated to one to six customers. This type of damage is time consuming to assess and repair, but crews are working around the clock to restore service.

The weather forecast calls for continuing stormy conditions throughout the week of December 16. We will continue to update this information throughout the week.