After five days, nearly all Anchorage residents can once again turn on the lights, power their coffee grinders, and for some, finally take a hot shower in their own home. Chugach Electric reports that nearly all of its customers have had power restored, after an outage caused by a freak windstorm that knocked out the electricity for tens of thousands of people.
High winds Tuesday night and Wednesday morning toppled trees all over the city, devastating power lines and stretching repair crews to the limit. Thousands of customers with Matanuska Electric Association and Municipal Light and Power were also affected, but Chugach -- the largest electric company in the Anchorage area -- saw its service area hit the hardest.
Chugach spokeswoman Sarah Wiggers reported Monday morning that all but "a handful" of customers had been turned back on, with those remaining needing to repair their own property before repairs could be completed.
Most of the remaining outages had been on Anchorage's east side and Hillside, where winds were among the worst. Crews were working around the clock on shifts for several days in an attempt to restore power to the hardest-hit areas. The company reported on Sunday that an estimated 500 people were still without power, down from several thousand on Thursday afternoon. The company had estimated then that it would be 2-5 days for repairs to be completed.
ML&P and MEA had reported restoring power to nearly all of their customers as of Saturday.
Meanwhile, residents in the dark who had purchased generators to power their homes and freezers full of fish can begin to focus on the potential cleanup outside their doors.
To that effect, numerous wood lots in the Southcentral Alaska region have extended their period of operation. That includes the Anchorage, Eagle River and Girdwood lots, which have all seen their seasonal closures pushed back. That still doesn't leave much time, though: the Eagle River lot closes at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and the Anchorage wood lot is open through Saturday at 7 p.m. The Girdwood lot will remain open on Saturdays until further notice.
"Only branches and tree segments are accepted," at the wood lots, a notice from the Municipality of Anchorage said. "With leaves attached. Yes, that question has been asked," it added.