UPDATED: Beltrami Electric makes progress on outages throughout region

BEMIDJI - Beltrami Electric Cooperative said it has 60 workers working today to restore power for customers who sustained damage from storms Monday and Wednesday.

As of 1 p.m., Beltrami Electric said there are fewer than 1,800 customers without power, down from nearly 3,000 this morning.

About 1,100 of the outages are customers who have been without power since Monday night, when a storm packing 80-mph winds whipped through the region. The remaining 700 customers are in the cooperative's northern service area.

"It looks like those in the northern section will be without electricity until at least tomorrow," a news release from Beltrami Electric states. "However, that could change as crews are really cruising today."

There were nearly 4,100 Beltrami Electric customers who lost power Monday night, and about 1,500 whose power was knocked out Wednesday.

The second storm disabled power to customers in the Red Lake, Kelliher, Turtle River and Washkish areas.