Power remains out for many residents

Kootenai Electric sent us this statement this morning:

"KEC currently has widespread outages affecting nearly 10,000 members. The damage to our system is staggering – worse than Ice Storm 1996.

There are countless broken poles and lines. Right now crews are evaluating damage and restoring power as it is possible. It may take days to assess the damage to the entire system and until that process is complete we will not have area specific restoration details.

Members should be prepared for extended power outages. We do not have specific restoration times but outages are likely to last for a week or more for a significant number of members. We appreciate your patience as we work. We will post another update at noon today.'

Avista is reporting 11,232 customers are now affected by outages in Kootenai County.