TORRINGTON – Several residents were left without power after an early winter storm system moved in Saturday evening, dumping several inches of wet, heavy snow throughout the area.

The National Weather Service in Cheyenne issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Goshen County ahead of the weekend – a notice which was upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning on Saturday, and included all of Platte, Goshen and Laramie counties in Wyoming as well as Sioux, Scotts Bluff, Banner, and Kimball counties in the Nebraska Panhandle until Sunday morning. Several highways were closed as a result, including between Torrington and Cheyenne, and many others were labeled “No Unnecessary Travel”.

Locally, municipal and county electric crews battled widespread power outages Saturday night and into Sunday.

“The combination of wind, snow, and leaves still on trees is adding to the increased hazard of fires and power outages due to branches being weighed down,” NWS explained.

At 8:20 p.m. Saturday, the official Torrington Police Department Facebook page released a statement about the volume of calls it was receiving from residents without power.

“TPD would like to let everyone know we are aware of the power outages all over the city. We have dispatched crews who have already started working on the issues. Please understand, this is a widespread issue and there are multiple trees causing issues around the city. The electrical department is preparing to work all night in order to restore power to everyone. Please be patient and refrain from calling 911 or the Police Department. Our dispatch center is being flooded with calls asking about power service and is interfering with out ability to respond to emergency calls.”

Later that night, around 10:30 p.m., electric service company Wyrulec also reached out to customers via social media.

“Due to ice on the power lines and increasing winds, we are seeing ‘galloping’ lines at this time which can result in outages. Our crews are working to do everything they can while waiting for the winds to calm down. Your power may have been restored and is now back down due to the strength of this storm forcing lines to make contact with one another.”

Torrington Volunteer Fire Department responded to multiple calls related to the storm Saturday evening, including a structure fire south of Torrington, at 4375
Road 56.

“It was a camper that had caught on fire,” TVFD Fire Chief Lance Petsch said. “The volunteers were able to extinguish the fire with no damage occurring to the structures that were near. No one was injured.”

Approximately 20 firefighters fielded calls Saturday night.

“It was a busy night for us,” Petsch said. “Most of what we did was assist the city electrical as they took care of tree branches that were contacting power lines. The city electrical did a great job taking care of the power lines that were being impacted with tree branches, and getting power restored.”

Torrington Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Matthews said officers responded to seven electrical incidents, and no accidents Saturday, despite poor visibility and slick roads.

“It was a lot better than it could have been,” he said.

As of Monday, meteorologists expect near-60-degree sunny days ahead, with no additional early winter storms in the immediate forecast.