About 400 Colorado Springs Utilities customers were still without power by Tuesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after electricity was indefinitely interrupted by forceful winds that brought down power lines and damaged utility poles.

Utilities crews have been working diligently since Monday to restore power, officials told reporters around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at Skyway Elementary School. At the height of Monday’s wind storm, as many as 10,400 customers had lost power as of 7:30 a.m. that day, mostly west of Interstate 25.

Crews worked through the night Monday with the help of a mutual aid crew from the city of Fountain, Colorado Springs Utilities’ Manager of Operations Jennifer Alecci said. By Tuesday, Utilities crews continued working on power restoration efforts but the crew from Fountain was no longer assisting.

On Tuesday, crews prioritized restoring power to two areas west of I-25 where the largest numbers of outages remained: 148 customers along Skyway Boulevard, near the elementary school, still had no power by the afternoon, nor did another 140 customers in Crystal Park, Alecci said.

“There’s extensive damage in both of these locations. However, we have crews on site and they are actively working the outage,” she said.

Area man Steve Miller said he and his girlfriend had been without power at their residence in the 1000 block of Skyway Boulevard for so long the food in their refrigerator was going bad and most would have to be thrown out.

Without electricity to cook, they were eating bowls of cereal for their meals; could not move their vehicle from their garage; and could not fill a flat tire on their second car, parked outside of the garage, to get around town, Miller said.

They noticed lights were restored Monday night on the neighboring streets of Mercury and Mars drives, but their power did not return as they hoped, he said. Without a heating system, Miller and his girlfriend weathered a chilly night, which at its coldest point reached 45 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

“It’s been very inconvenient,” he said.

Skyway Elementary also remained without power Tuesday afternoon after winds damaged five power poles, Alecci said. Colorado Springs Utilities “doubled efforts” to restore electricity at the school, adding a second crew, she said.

“We are optimistic that power will be restored by tomorrow morning,” Alecci said.

Crews carried out repairs in a bucket truck on Tuesday after winds had died down in some areas, “making our response very effective,” she said.

Westerly winds were forecasted to blow between 25 to 30 mph Tuesday afternoon, with gusts reaching up to 50 mph, according to NWS Pueblo.

Tuesday night, northwest winds were predicted to blow 25 to 35 mph, decreasing to 15 to 20 mph after midnight, the agency said. Wind gusts could reach as high as 40 mph.

Alecci said Utilities expects crews will be able to continue working on restoration efforts through Tuesday, but if weather conditions change they will adjust as needed. Utilities constantly monitors wind speeds to ensure workers in bucket trucks, which can be deployed in 35 mph winds or less, remain safe, she said.

Six families were displaced at Fort Carson on Monday and remained in temporary homes on the Mountain Post Tuesday, after high winds damaged their homes and also caused structural damage to Gate 4, Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt said Tuesday afternoon.

Officials are still assessing damage to the homes and across the post, she said. A couple of the houses had roof damage, and others had damage to their sides from the wind, McNutt said. She expected damage assessments and repairs to take up to another week or two to complete.

Gate 4 sustained some roof damage from the winds and was closed for a few hours on Monday while officials repaired the gate enough to reopen, she said.

Some trees had fallen down across the installation due to the winds and some personal and government vehicles sustained broken or cracked windshields, McNutt said.

NWS Pueblo meteorologist Michael Garderoglil told The Gazette Monday that strong wind events usually happen about once a year.

In mid-December 2021, a massive windstorm toppled semitrailers, tore down centuries-old trees, downed more than 50 utilities poles and knocked out power to as many as 40,000 Colorado Springs Utilities customers.

It took the agency three days to restore power to all affected customers in that event. Repairs took a significant amount time to complete because workers had to first clear debris and trees to get to equipment, utilities officials said at the time.

In December 2022, high speed winds reaching 105 mph, as clocked at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station in southwest Colorado Springs, tore through the area again.

That time, however, the city was largely spared from the damage it experienced a year prior because the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management alerted residents to prepare for downed trees and power lines. Colorado Springs’ Public Works and Forestry departments also coordinated response plans ahead of the December 2022 storm.

On Tuesday, Alecci thanked utilities customers for their patience and understanding as the agency worked to restore electricity.

Residents should never approach downed power lines and should call Colorado Springs Utilities at 719-448-4800, or dial 911, to report a downed power line, a tree into an electric line, or some other utilities-related emergency that poses a safety risk.