INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Utility crews braving frigid temperatures as they work to restore power to thousands of Indiana homes and business following this week's big winter storm have reduced the number of outages statewide to about 20,000.
Indiana homeland security department spokeswoman Emily Norcoss said Thursday morning that nearly all of the outages in central and southern Indiana are in Duke Energy's service district, and the rest are rural electric cooperative customers.
Some 87,000 outages were reported during the peak of the storm that lashed the state from Monday through Wednesday.
Temperatures Thursday morning were in the single digits over most of the state as about 70 people remained housed in shelters in Clinton, Sullivan, Vigo and Wayne counties.
Twenty-three Indiana counties remain under snow emergencies urging residents to avoid travel unless necessary.
