Xcel Energy is on the move! Over 500 crew members are out and about, checking over 600 miles of power lines to bring back electricity after a big windstorm hit. It caused power to go out for more than 150,000 customers since Saturday.
Xcel thinks they’ll get about 90% of the power back by Monday night. They had to turn off power for safety reasons for around 55,000 people, and another 100,000 lost power because of the strong winds.
Right now, Xcel isn’t sure how many power lines got messed up by the wind. But they’re working hard to fix things. By Sunday afternoon, they already got power back for about 63,000 people, but there were still over 87,000 without power across the state.
The wind was so strong that it made things tough for everyone. Xcel even had to use drones and helicopters to help check the power lines.
People are upset about the power outage, but Governor Jared Polis wants everyone to remember to be kind to the workers who are trying to fix things. He says they’re working hard, and being nice to them is important.
This wasn’t the first time Xcel warned about a windstorm. Back in March, they told around 200,000 customers that there might be power problems because of the wind. They did some stuff to try to stop the power from going out, but this time, they had to shut it off in some places to keep everyone safe.
This idea came from California, where they started turning off power during windy times after a big fire in 2018. In Colorado, there are a lot of homes in areas where wildfires could happen, so safety is super important.
The winds on Saturday were really strong, like up to 100 mph in some places! Wind like that caused a big fire a few years ago, so everyone’s being extra careful.