LINCOLN, Nebraska (KOLN) – On Friday, Lincoln Electric System reported again on the historic storm that left tens of thousands of customers without power just over two weeks ago.

The storm, dubbed “The Howler” by LES officials, reached wind speeds of 83 mph and was the third strongest in the utility’s history in terms of outage time.

Paul Crist, vice president of power, said that at its peak, the storm caused 33,795 outages in the LES service area. And as more branches went down in the aftermath, the total approached 40,000, or about 26% of all LES customers.

Thanks to the work of over 280 LES employees and additional assistance from Grand Island, Hastings and Nebraska City, power was restored to these customers by August 4.

Crist said workers have been working 16-hour shifts to get operations back up and running.

“I’m very impressed with our team,” he said. “They really worked a lot of overtime, even going away from their families or their homes that might have been damaged or had power outages. The crews really stepped up.”

LES crew members even volunteered to help with the blackouts in Omaha, where more than 200,000 customers were without power.

“You would think that after all the long hours they work here, they would rather go home and relax,” Crist said. “When events like this happen, the best sides of the community and our employees really come out.”

No injuries were reported during the storm or during the subsequent cleanup.

According to Crist, the cost of the restoration work is between $1.5 million and $2 million.

The LES team will gather all available information about this storm to prepare for the next one.

“Every event can be different,” Crist said. “We’ll probably provide more assistance with damage assessment up front so we can assign teams more efficiently. We’re always looking for improvements like that.”

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