Last night's storm caused power outages to around 3,000 Austin Energy customers all over the city. North Central Austin was especially hard hit.
Austin Energy spokesperson Ed Clark says 17 crews worked overnight to restore energy. Six more crews focused just on tree trimming. Clark says fallen tree limbs were a big problem in last night's storm.
Crews made repairs at about 200 locations. Two power poles were toppled and lines fell at a dozen locations. Austin Energy expects power to be back up everywhere by mid-morning.
Meanwhile, if weather permits, contract technicians will be using a helicopter to perform regular maintenance on Austin Energy transmission lines over the next couple of days. This is unrelated to storm damage.
Austin Energy doesn't want customers to be alarmed. The black helicopter will help technicians reach transmission towers – which are about 100 feet tall.
