More than 20,000 Duke Energy customers across Northern Kentucky remained without power Wednesday morning, Aug. 12, after severe storms tore through the region Tuesday afternoon. No restoration timeline has been set for any affected area, including Boone County.
About 30,000 customers in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties lost power Tuesday night, LINK nky reported. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Fox 19 reported 20,288 Northern Kentucky customers still in the dark, with Kenton County (10,668) and Campbell County (8,605) accounting for most. Boone County's share was not broken out.
How to report and track outages
Boone County residents still without power can report outages by texting "OUT" to 57801, calling 1-800-543-5599, or using the Duke Energy app. Status updates are available by texting "REG" to 57801 or visiting duke-energy.com/outagealerts.
Owen Electric, which also serves parts of Boone County, reported outages Tuesday night. Those customers can check outage.owenelectric.com.
Duke Energy urged residents to stay away from downed or sagging power lines and treat all lines as energized. Intersections with non-working traffic signals should be treated as four-way stops. Anyone using a generator should operate it outdoors only, away from air intakes, and never inside a home or attached garage due to carbon monoxide risk.
What's slowing restoration
Duke Energy has restored power to about 60,000 customers regionwide since the storm hit, but the utility warned the work will take time.
"This was a very significant event," John Juech, Duke Energy's director of communications, said on WLWT's Wednesday morning newscast. He said fallen trees, broken poles and damaged equipment are slowing crews, adding: "We continue to assess the damage and restore power as conditions allow, but obviously, we're expecting more storms today."
Juech called Tuesday's storm a "high-vegetation event," meaning large numbers of trees fell onto power lines and transmission lines. Crews must clear the debris and then rebuild the line. Duke Energy said it is fully staffed and deploying additional lineworkers, damage assessors and tree trimmers.
Storm director Andy Cassidy warned customers to prepare for extended outages, particularly in areas where crews must rebuild sections of the electric system, according to the NKY Tribune. Duke Energy's website listed no estimated restoration times as of Wednesday morning.
More severe weather, including intense downpours and a flash flooding threat, was expected Wednesday afternoon. Duke Energy said additional storms could cause new outages and further slow restoration.
Regional impacts
At its peak Tuesday evening, the storm knocked out power to more than 180,000 Duke Energy customers across Ohio and Kentucky, roughly 20 percent of the utility's customer base in both states. Holy Cross High School in Covington and Newport Independent Schools postponed their first day of class to Aug. 13, citing storm damage and power outages. No Boone County school delays were confirmed.
In Southgate, firefighters went door-to-door Wednesday morning checking on residents still without power, neighbors told WLWT. Campbell County dispatchers said most major roads in that county had reopened, though parts of Madison Avenue in Covington remained blocked.
Duke Energy prioritizes restoring power to hospitals and government buildings before moving into residential neighborhoods. The utility serves about 155,000 electric customers in Kentucky.
