Fewer than 150 in Linn County without power more than two weeks after derecho

Fewer than 150 households in Linn County remain without power late Tuesday more than two weeks after a derecho caused devastation across Eastern Iowa.

Alliant Energy has 131 customers in Linn County without power, as of Tuesday at 5 p.m. Spokesman Mike Wagner said Alliant has been contacting those customers 'to make sure we know if the problem is on their end or ours.”

Linn County Rural Electric Cooperative no longer has any customers without power in the county.

Internet providers are still working on restoring service to Linn County residents. ImOn spokeswoman Lisa Rhatigan said Tuesday about 75 percent of customers have internet back.

'It's moving slower now because we are working in areas with more damage,” Rhatigan said. 'The last part of this will probably take a little longer than the first part of it.”

Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters told The Gazette Tuesday evening about 11,000 customers in the Cedar Rapids area still do not have internet. At this time last week, that number was about 37,000.

'A key phase of network repair and service restoration will be completed (Wednesday),” Peters said in an email. 'We appreciate the extraordinary patience of our customers.”

More than 100,000 customers in Linn County lost power from the derecho earlier this month. Electric utilities brought in crews from Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, among other states, to restore power.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com