Ankeny Residents Without Electricity Should be Restored Within 12 Hours

Ankeny residents with no electricity might have to wait just a little bit longer for power to be restored to them.

A representative from MidAmerican Energy Company said in a response to Ankeny Patch via Twitter that the company expects to have power restored to a significant amount of Ankeny customers within the next 12 hours.

According to the representative, extra crews were called in last night to deal with the abundance of reported power outages.

As of 2:35 p.m., MidAmerican's website was showing four power outages in Ankeny and approximately 2,158 customers affected by the outages.

Are you without power? Here are a few tips you should be following, according to MidAmerican:

1) Listen to radio reports. If the outage is widespread, use a radio to monitor the outage restoration process.

2) Unplug computers, TVs, VCRs and other sensitive appliances to avoid possible damage when electricity is restored.

3) When power resumes, reset clocks and check automatic alarms and timers. Plug in only essential items. Wait 10 minutes before connecting the rest to let the electrical system stabilize.

4) Turn off all but one of the lights that were on, so you will notice when electricity is restored.

5) Use a flashlight. Avoid candles because of the fire risk.

6) Turn off heat-producing appliances like electric irons and heaters to prevent a fire in case no one is home when power is restored.

7) If a standby generator is used, make sure it has a manual or automatic transfer switch. This switch will isolate home circuits from power lines. A generator that does not have a transfer switch can back feed electricity into main power lines, causing a shock hazard for you and utility crews. Be alert for carbon monoxide buildup from portable generators. Never run a portable generator inside or near a building.

8) Don't open the refrigerator or freezer. An unopened refrigerator will keep foods cold enough for a couple of hours. A freezer that is half full will hold for up to 24 hours and a full freezer for 48 hours.

9) If the temperature inside your refrigerator stays above 40 degrees for more than two hours, discard meats, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, butter, creamy salad dressings and anything else containing dairy products.

10) Food in a full freezer should stay frozen for about two days. If it's not full, group the packages together in a corner and they should be all right after one day. As long as the food still contains ice crystals, it can be safely refrozen after the power comes back on.