Power outage history
Wapello County Iowa
2.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
73rd most of 98 in Iowa 68% below the national median
Every day since 2015
Eleven years, one night at a time
Each cell is a day. The brighter it is, the larger the share of Wapello's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Wapello, hours without power per customer
The record
The biggest outages since 2015
Ranked by customer-hours lost: customers out multiplied by how long they stayed out. Times are local.
| Began | Storm | Peak out | Share | Lasted | 90% restored | Customer-hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2023 | No storm report | 1,066 | 5% | 20 h | – | 21k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 4,365 | 20% | 17 h | 6.0 h | 18k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 5,500 | 25% | 8.8 h | 6.2 h | 16k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,026 | 14% | 11 h | 1.2 h | 15k |
| Jun 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 5,742 | 26% | 5.2 h | 3.2 h | 13k |
| Jul 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 6,713 | 31% | 14 h | 5.8 h | 13k |
| Dec 14, 2024 | Ice storm | 2,346 | 11% | 11 h | 4.2 h | 12k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,178 | 5% | 16 h | 11 h | 10k |
| Jul 30, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,487 | 16% | 5.8 h | 4.8 h | 9.8k |
| Jun 20, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 3,108 | 14% | 8.0 h | 7.0 h | 9.2k |
| Aug 19, 2016 | No storm report | 5,582 | 25% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 6.9k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,550 | 7% | 11 h | 9.2 h | 6.1k |
| May 16, 2025 | No storm report | 2,593 | 12% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 5.8k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | No storm report | 1,380 | 6% | 6.8 h | 6.8 h | 5.6k |
| Jun 28, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,354 | 11% | 4.8 h | 4.0 h | 4.8k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | No storm report | 2,099 | 10% | 5.8 h | 5.2 h | 4.6k |
| Jun 15, 2025 | No storm report | 2,591 | 12% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 4.5k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Flooding | 2,484 | 11% | 3.2 h | 3.0 h | 4.0k |
| Aug 7, 2022 | No storm report | 3,302 | 15% | 1.5 h | 7.0 h | 3.5k |
| Jul 11, 2017 | No storm report | 2,837 | 13% | 1.2 h | 12 min | 3.5k |
| Jan 14, 2022 | Winter storm | 840 | 4% | 5.0 h | – | 3.4k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 844 | 4% | 11 h | – | 3.0k |
| Jul 28, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 2,903 | 13% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 20, 2024 | No storm report | 2,591 | 12% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 2.8k |
| Jul 19, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,831 | 8% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 2.7k |
| Mar 3, 2015 | No storm report | 1,343 | 6% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 2.7k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | No storm report | 631 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Sep 14, 2020 | No storm report | 875 | 4% | 3.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Jul 2, 2024 | No storm report | 1,935 | 9% | 2.5 h | 11 h | 2.5k |
| Jun 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,442 | 7% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 2.4k |
After the peak
How fast the lights come back
Each line is one major outage, from its peak. The amber line is the typical path.
When it happens
The outage clock
Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.
What was happening
Weather behind the outages
Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Wapello from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 42%
- Thunderstorms 39%
- Windstorm 7.1%
- Winter storm 5.5%
- Ice storm 4.6%
- Flooding 2.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Wapello
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Iowa territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| T I P Rural Electric Coop | IA | 156 | 156 | 1.33 | 11.9 | 82k |
| Southern Iowa Elec Coop, Inc | IA | 177 | 177 | 1.66 | 15.7 | 61k |
| Chariton Valley Elec Coop, Inc | IA | 204 | 161 | 1.99 | 13.2 | 58k |
| Access Energy Coop | Cooperative | 83 | 83 | 0.77 | 14.8 | 8.9k |
EIA Form 861, latest year each utility reported. Outage minutes are SAIDI, the yearly minutes the average customer goes without power; outages a year are SAIFI.
About these numbers
Notes
Outages come from the EAGLE-I record of utility outage maps collected every 15 minutes by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hours without power are customer-hours divided by the county's 21,960 electricity customers. Averages use well-covered years from 2018. Outages shorter than 15 minutes, and utilities that publish no outage map, are not in the record, so these figures understate the total. How every number is made →