UPDATED 11:25 a.m.: Caution urged when traveling in Jamestown; power still out for some

Dec. 27—JAMESTOWN — Power outages remain in Jamestown for some residents as the city deals with the impacts of an ice storm.

Otter Tail Power Co. has damaged infrastructure and related outages in Cleveland, Clifford, Colgate, Dickey, Fingal, Gackle, Galesburg, Grand Rapids, Hastings, Kathryn, Litchville, Marion, Medina, Nome, Oriska, rural Page, Streeter and Windsor, the company's website says.

Crews are in the field working to repair damage and restore power safely and as quickly as possible, said Stephanie Hoff, Otter Tail Power Co.'s communications director.

"Our hope is that we have Mother Nature working on our side for a bit now," she said.

She said at around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 27, that power outages in Jamestown are spread out in the city. She said around 1,000 customers in Jamestown were without power but that number may not be accurate. She said the outages are not tied to a single source.

"It looks like there are probably still multiple areas, whether it's a pole, a line or some piece of infrastructure, that they are looking to restore," Hoff said. "It's not like it's one faulty area where if we were to get that restored, all of the customers would come back on."

Hoff said Otter Tail's poles and power lines have "really thick" ice on them. She said crews are reporting broken poles and cross arms and sagging power lines.

"It is caked on inches thick," she said.

Hoff said patrolling and identifying where issues are located has (HAVE>>>) been challenging for Otter Tail crews. She said it took longer to get to some areas.

"Some areas were far worse than others and even traveling in certain areas was dangerous at times," she said. "We had to time that appropriately. We always put the safety of our crews first, of course."

She said crews have to safely figure out how to remove the ice from the area at fault to make the repairs.

"You are doing all of this in the elements so things become slippery, equipment becomes slippery, tools become slippery," she said.

Hoff said residents should stay at least 50 feet away from downed power lines or other electrical hazards. If any customers are experiencing an outage,

report it online

or call 800-257-4044 or 218-739-8877.

Maj. Justin Blinsky, assistant chief of police for the Jamestown Police Department, said few accidents had been reported as of around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"The major issues are trees collapsing, power lines falling down," he said. "We just had a power pole that was snapped in the southwest part of town."

He said conditions on the main arteries in the city are "passable."

"The residential areas, the sidewalks, parking lots are still extremely treacherous," Blinsky said. "There's still a mist kind of going on or a freezing fog going on which is causing even more ice and slippery conditions, if that's even possible."

Blinksy said more people are out traveling today in Jamestown which is expected but asked people to use "extreme caution" at intersections.

"Just because the speed limit maybe says 25 miles an hour, I don't think today is the day to be traveling even the speed limit," Blinsky said. "So just kind of monitor those distances between cars so that you give yourself enough time to stop. And the residential areas are, like I said ... extremely icy so just be prepared to drive, drive for the conditions."

He said a few accidents were reported on Tuesday but most people stayed home and traveled only when necessary.

The power outages were also creating issues for the Stutsman County Communications Center.

"Our law enforcement dispatch center gets inundated with calls about power outages and we have no control over that so we encourage people to just call Otter Tail directly and make the report," Blinsky said. "That's just as quick as tying up resources. ... if it's an emergency situation where a power line is arcing or causes a fire or something like that, obviously call 911. But if it's just a power outage, just report it to the power companies."

The city of Jamestown is asking residents to stay off of city streets as crews work on the roads to make them safer for travel.

Water and sewer restrictions, issued on Tuesday, Dec. 26, remain in place. Power has not been fully restored to the area. The city announced mandatory reductions in water and sanitary sewer usage on Tuesday due to citywide power outages. Residents are asked to keep usage to a bare minimum to keep from depleting water reserves and inundating the sanitary sewer system.

City offices are closed.

Great Plains Housing Authority's offices will remain closed. Staff is working remotely though. GPHA hopes to resume office operations Thursday, Dec. 28.

Jamestown Parks and Recreation facilities will remain closed all day.

The South Central Human Service Center, the regional vocational rehabilitation and child support offices in Jamestown will open at noon. The North Dakota State Hospital is open.