Pillen requests federal disaster funds for 27 Nebraska counties impacted by March blizzard
Governor’s office says most of the nearly $65 million in damages were for utility repairs
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - Gov. Jim Pillen has asked the President Trump to declare Nebraska’s snow and ice storm on March 18-19 a federal disaster.
If granted, the declaration submitted Friday would provide funding relief for the millions of dollars in storm damages across 27 eastern Nebraska counties including Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Saunders, Cass, and Washington. Other counties in the list: Boone, Burt, Butler, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Fillmore, Hamilton, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nuckolls, Otoe, Platte, Polk, Saline, Seward, Thayer, Thurston, Webster and York.
The governor’s office estimates that most of the more than $64.8 million in damages are due to utility repairs. Omaha Public Power District reported that more than 100,000 customers were without power at the peak of the storm, with tens of thousands without power for days after the blizzard as crews worked to replace wind-snapped utilty poles.
Along with rough weather conditions — police were warning that many north-facing stoplights throughout the city were covered over with snow — messy travel and fallen trees throughout the city also made it difficult for crews to get where they needed to be to get the lights back on.
With other utility crews in Nebraska working to restore power in their own communities, OPPD put out a call for mutual aid. Crews came from as far away as Kentucky to help with restoration efforts here.
Omaha Public Works also called in reinforcements, putting contractors to work clearing as many streets as possible before an overnight freeze that impacted the next morning’s commute.
The blizzard also resulted in more than 500 weather related incidents on Nebraska roads, closing highways and even Interstate 80. Two Nebraska State Patrol vehicles were also struck while responding to crashes.
OPPD said at one point during the storm that it was shaping up to be the fifth-largest outage they’ve dealt with, surpassing the 2020 derecho outages.
Several Iowa counties were also impacted by the storm. Gov. Kim Reynolds declared a disaster for Crawford, Harrison, Monona, Shelby, and Woodbury counties on March 20.
—
Get a first alert on approaching weather. Download the First Alert 6 Weather app.
—
Get a first alert to breaking news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for First Alert 6 email alerts.
Copyright 2025 WOWT. All rights reserved.
