Power outages hit nearly 19,000 people across the Denver area early Monday morning as strong, damaging winds swept across Colorado. By mid-morning, though, electricity had been restored to most of those customers.
As of 6:55 a.m., Xcel Energy crews were responding to 12 outages impacting 18,977 people in Lone Tree, Centennial, Denver, Arvada, Golden, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Broomfield and Boulder, according to the utility’s outage map.
More outages popped up throughout the morning, but fewer people were affected as crews worked to restore power.
Just before 10 a.m., Xcel reported 25 outages affecting 1,867 customers, according to the outage map. The new outages also affected areas in Fort Collins, Grand Junction and Fairplay.
Wind gusts between 55 mph and 70 mph are forecast throughout Monday for Colorado’s mountains, foothills and Front Range, according to a Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service.
NWS tracking data shows 20 mph winds and 30 mph gusts started in Denver just before 4 a.m. Monday. Gusts up to 82 mph were reported at 4:41 a.m. at Rocky Flats, about 16 miles northwest of the city, according to NWS extreme weather reports.
NWS meteorologists also documented up to 84 mph wind gusts in Boulder, 60 mph gusts near Fairplay, 55 mph gusts at Floyd Hill, 50 mph gusts in Lafayette and 70 mph gusts in Coal Creek Canyon.
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