OTTUMWA — Five hundred Ottumwan residences remain without electrical power, and it may take some time to be restored until the flooding recedes or unless they live are in a “safe zone.”

Alliant Energy Spokesman Ryan Stensland said Alliant workers are doing the best they can to get power restored to Ottumwa customers and nearly 50 residences in Eldon. However, before they are able to proceed, the water must recede.

“We can’t work on the lines if the power is on in their homes or if there is still floodwater there,” Stensland said.

“We can’t work on the lines unless they are disconnected.”

While most electricial outages are due to the recent flooding, Stensland said there are some cases where power was cut off because of severe weather other than flooding.

He also said that Alliant must comply with city inspectors and wait for them to do their inspections of the flooded home before power would be restored.

Phone companies including Qwest and Iowa Telecom said they have not had any major issues with outages in the southeast Iowa area, only citing isolated cases.