PANHANDLE -- Wheat Belt Public Power linemen and mutual aid crews continue working to restore power in the Panhandle.

As of 7:15 a.m. today, Wheat Belt officials reported crews were prepping for another day repairing poles and returning power to customers. Nearly 1,000 meters were out of power early today.
 
Mutual aid crews arrived at Wheat Belt about 9 a.m. Monday. As of Monday morning, 400 damaged poles were identified.
 
By 6:25 p.m.,  Monday, crews were still out working. There were 13 Wheat Belt linemen, four linemen from McCook Public Power District, four linemen from Midwest Electric, 10 linemen from Dawson PPD and a contracting crew (Premier Power) that brought five linemen.
 
On Monday, the bulk of the crews were working north of Sidney, northwest of Gurley, east of Gurley and near Redington. The latest count is more than 550 poles were down on the ground or damaged throughout the Wheat Belt service area. Power was restored to about 400 meters Monday, with about 1,100 meters still needing power.