Crews battle brush fires on outskirts of Omaha-metro as winds increase

Emergency crews were out

Thursday as

swept through parts of the Omaha-metro.

OPPD reported that most outages had been restored at about 6:10 p.m. Thursday. About an hour later, the OPPD website showed about 60 customers were still without power. [

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OPPD said winds with gusts topping 45 mph for two circuit lockouts were to blame for most of the outages 1,360 customers were experiencing Thursday afternoon. [

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Authorites report that Buffalo Road has reopened.

NSW Omaha reports wind gusts in the area reported as high as 56mph. [

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Pottawattmie County fire departments have been called out to multiple fires, prompting another round of fire danger warnings from the county's Emergency Management personnel.

NWS Omaha warns Interstate 29 drivers in the area to beware of visibility problems due to blowing dust and smoke — and a mix of the two.

Sarpy County ordered the evacuation of people in the Meadow Oaks neighborhood, located near Louisville. Buffalo Road was closed in the area. Smoke from this fire was visible on radar. [

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Omaha Public Power District reported that the circuit lockout crews had been working on Thursday morning may have been caused by high winds, but were working to verify that. The outage caused by the locked circuit had left 953 customers in Cass County without power, OPPD said. [

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Fire broke out in a field north of Louisville. The fire crossed a road, making its way into a neighboring field. [

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Fire crews in Pottawattamie County responded to a second call of a brush fire that ignited a few miles away from the first they responded to, near Highway 6 and 245th Street. [

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Dry conditions combined with strong winds prompted the National Weather Service on Wednesday to

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