Electric Grid and Infrastructure

Hurricane-force winds topping 100 mph knocked down power lines and fanned wildfires along Colorado’s Front Range into the Great Plains late Wednesday into Thursday, after Xcel Energy preemptively de-energized roughly 700 miles of lines across eastern Colorado to reduce fire risk. About 37,000 customers on the Front Range and in the Rockies remained without power Thursday afternoon as at least 14,000 acres burned in Yuma County, a grass fire triggered evacuations near Cheyenne, Wyoming, blowing dust forced closure of a stretch of I‑70 in western Kansas, and the Pacific Northwest braced for renewed heavy rain and strong winds following recent catastrophic flooding.