Gov. Pillen Declares Emergency for Counties Impacted by Winter Storm

LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen declared a state of emergency for more than 20 counties impacted by this week’s winter storm. The combination of rain, sleet, hail, heavy snow, and high winds resulted in closures across multiple roadways, including Interstate 80. Conditions also did considerable damage to trees and power lines, resulting in a loss of electricity across multiple service areas. The heaviest damage occurred along the eastern part of the state. 
Since Wednesday, significant progress has been made in getting customers reconnected.  The public power districts have received assistance from crews in other states, through mutual aid agreements.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the peak outage was reported Thursday afternoon with 119,199 customers without power. That has now been reduced to just over 29,000 customers.

Gov. Pillen has received regular updates from the utilities, as well as from leadership within the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), while storm recovery has continued over the last few days. His proclamation will allow Nebraska’s adjutant general to take any steps necessary and to utilize funds for protecting lives and property impacted by the storm. 

Counties covered by today’s emergency declaration include Burt, Butler, Cass, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Douglas, Fillmore, Gage, Jefferson, Lancaster, Platte, Polk, Nuckolls, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, Thurston, Washington, Wayne and York. It is possible the list of counties will change as NEMA continues to receive damage assessment data from local emergency management agencies. If so, an additional declaration may be issued by Gov. Pillen. Initial damage estimates currently exceed $21 million. Again, it is possible that number will fluctuate with ongoing damage assessments.  

Today, Gov. Pillen reiterated his appreciation to those who have been managing aspects of storm since its onset early Wednesday.

“From state troopers who assisted stranded motorists, to snow removal crews and now those involved in repairing downed lines to re-establish our power grid – a lot of people have stepped up very quickly to ensure that our safety has been the number one priority,” said Gov. Pillen.
Once all damage assessments are completed, steps will be undertaken to seek a federal disaster declaration.

In conjunction with this proclamation, Gov. Pillen also issued an executive order waiving the use of dynamic pricing for the remainder of the emergency order.