(Radio Iowa) –  Thousands of people lost power as the blizzard swept into the state, Wednesday. MidAmerican Energy spokesman Geoff  Greenwood says the extremely high sustained winds and wind gusts pummeled overhead lines. The winds also took down trees and tree debris knocked down overhead lines. On top of that, blocked roads made it hard, if not impossible for crews to get to where they needed to go. Most of the damage was in northwest Iowa. There was less snow as the storm moved to the east, but Greenwood says ice has been an issue in other areas. He says the ice builds up on an overhead line, and changes the airflow on that line, causing it to bounce. Greenwood says that led to some situations where there was a cascading effect with pole after pole after pole taken down.

As of 5:30-a.m. today, PowerOutage.us reported there were 8,400 customers without power in Iowa, with MidAmerican Energy indicating there were more than 5,500 customers without electricity. The Western Iowa Power Cooperative listed more than 1,160 customers were without power early this morning.

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/iowa