Some parts of Broken Bow are without power during extremely cold weather

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Many homes in the central Nebraska town of Broken Bow are without power following an explosion early Thursday.

The outage comes at a tough time — during extremely cold weather. A cold weather advisory is in effect overnight lows dropping to -7 degrees.

The city of Broken Bow, which has a population of around 3,500, runs its own power system. Two employees have minor injuries from the explosion, according to a city spokesperson.

Crews brought electricity back for homes in east and west Broken Bow, along with the area south of Highway 2. Central Broken Bow and parts of the northern end of town remained without power Thursday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the city said emergency workers don’t have a timeline for fully restoring the town’s grid. City workers are running wellness checks in the impacted areas and informing them about shelter space.

A cold weather advisory is in effect overnight. There are two shelters are open at:

• North Park School (1135 N. H St., Broken Bow, NE 68822)
• Third City Christian Church (831 Buffalo Run Road, Broken Bow, NE 68822)

The city advises impacted residents to drip their faucets to prevent freezing pipes and to call 911 in an emergency.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the explosion, a city spokesperson said.

Emergency crews are back on scene dealing with “hot spots” of the fire that have developed at the Municipal Power Plant, according to the city spokesperson.

“City crews continue to work along with Custer Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power District on getting power restored,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the media.

Nebraska Public Media News will update this story as it develops