Sioux Falls Storm Update

The storm is winding down but trees are still coming down in places and the power is still out in parts of the city.

City of Sioux Falls response updates Thursday afternoon:

• An emergency shelter staffed through the Red Cross remains open. The shelter is located at the Sioux Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross building located at 808 West Avenue North and is available for those who have lost power and are unable to shelter in place. People coming to the shelter should arrive and register by 10 p.m.
• If you have already called Metro Communications to report an issue, please have patience as calls are being prioritized. To conserve resources, it is not necessary to renotify Metro Communications of downed power lines once you have provided an initial notification.
• The City continues to update the information on its website. To see the latest updates, go to www.siouxfalls.org/icestorm2013.
• To report power outages, contact your service provider:
  • Xcel Energy at 1-800-895-1999. Xcel Energy expects to make significant progress in restoration efforts today. It is anticipated that power will be restored to the vast majority of customers by the evening of Friday, April 12. Some individual service restoration may take longer due to debris. A total of 20,500 customers remain without power in the Sioux Falls service region. Additional crews continue to respond to support restoration efforts. More than 350 people are currently assigned to support this response. o If your power provider is Southeastern Electric, report power outages to 1-800-333-2859.
  • If your power provider is Sioux Falls Utilities and Power, report outages to 605-373-6979.
  • If your power provider is Sioux Valley Energy, report outages to 605-234-1960. Sioux Valley Energy will be taking down ten of its substations to protect them from ice. Sioux Valley officials say this will cause an additional 10,000 people to lose power in the process. Officials will be deicing the stations to prevent even more power outages in the future. This will affect the southern area of Sioux Valley’s coverage. However, officials say power will only be down in that area for about three hours.
• Tree branch/debris management: As of 1 p.m. today, the City of Sioux Falls has received 882 reports of downed trees and branches.
• Streets crews are pushing downed trees and branches off roads to keep streets open to traffic.
• Parks crews are assisting with tree branches.
• If you have reports of downed trees/branches blocking roads within the city of Sioux Falls, please call 605-367-8255. Free fallen tree/branch drop-off is available at the City Street Department (1000 East Chambers Street) and the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds (North Lyon Boulevard) to assist with branch cleanup due to the ice storm.

Contacts info for you:

Xcel Energy: 1-800-895-1999
Midco: 1-800-888-1300
Sioux Falls Street Department: 367-8255
Sioux Falls branch drop off: 368-2440
National Weather Service: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/
Safe Travel USA: http://www.safetravelusa.com/sd/
All other emergencies: 911