SIDNEY -- Linemen are committing long days to restore power to Panhandle customers after the weekend storm.

Lacey Gulbranson, Wheat Belt Public Power General Manager/CEO, commends the workers, but also notes the duties are taking their toll.

"The crews are doing great. We couldn't ask for any better help in this situation. But, I must say. I think we all woke up this morning and fatigue had set in. That's going to be our biggest challenge as we push through. We've been working 6 a.m. to at least 8 p.m. every night getting them dinner and sending them home or to the hotel, and it's just going to be a long haul," Gulbranson said.

She said Wheat Belt expects the count of broken power poles to increase as crews continue to work the Panhandle.

"I think we're going to still be getting more, more called in," she said.

Today crews set 72 poles, making it about 220 total pole replacements complete. Wheat Belt currently has 802 meters off with 230 of those being residences. The main areas focused on today were east of Gurley, south of Broadwater, Redington and west of Gurley.

While that number sounds high, it is significantly less than at the peak of the outage, according to Gulbranson.

"We have 5,000 meters in our territory. Sunday morning when we came to work here we had 1,500 meters without power, and we've restored about half," she said.

She said power is restored in a priority system.

"Our priority has been of course homes, as many homes as we can get on. Feedlots: I think we got the last of the, larger feedlots on yesterday. Commercial large, commercial businesses are kind of our priority," she said.