DramaIdaho Hit Hard: Tens of Thousands Lose Power in Severe Storms
Thursday, May 28, 2026, brought chaos to southwest Idaho. Tens of thousands of Idaho Power customers found themselves without electricity as severe thunderstorms ripped through the Treasure Valley and surrounding areas, prompting emergency responses and widespread disruption.
The powerful storm system moved across the region in the afternoon and evening, unleashing heavy rain, lightning, and wind gusts that reportedly reached up to 72 mph. The National Weather Service in Boise had issued severe thunderstorm warnings for portions of the Treasure Valley as the weather intensified, signaling the coming impact.
Outages began to mount early in the afternoon. A smaller incident near Gooding started at 3:15 p.m., affecting 77 customers, with weather identified as the likely cause. Shortly after, at 3:34 p.m., an outage near Nampa began, impacting approximately 2,260 customers, where Idaho Power identified an object in the line as the suspected cause. By 4 p.m., the largest concentrations of outages were reported in and around Boise, affecting more than 7,000 customers, and Meridian, where over 5,300 customers lost power. Additionally, 1,580 customers in Eagle and Garden City experienced service loss. A separate outage emerged in Boise County around 4:37 p.m., cutting electricity to nearly 4,000 Idaho Power customers in areas including Placerville, Crouch, and Horseshoe Bend, with the cause listed as under investigation.
By 5:14 p.m. on Thursday, Idaho Power reported a total of 57 active outages impacting over 21,000 customers. The utility publicly stated on its website, "We are aware of multiple weather-related outages in parts of our service area." They also communicated, "Estimated restoration times are currently unavailable for most outages but will be provided once crews are on-site and can assess impacts. Thank you for your patience as crews work to safely restore power." Restoration for the Nampa and Gooding outages was estimated by 5:30 p.m., while the Boise County outage was projected to be restored by approximately 7 p.m.
