Colorado’s largest utility company said Saturday evening that hundreds of employees were working to repair and inspect powerlines after high winds roared across the Front Range, especially north of Denver.

Xcel Energy had announced earlier that it was shutting down power to more than 18,000 customers, anticipating high winds that create wildfire risk.

Xcel’s Public Safety Power Shutoff — a strategy sanctioned by Colorado regulators — began around 2 p.m. and impacted 14,400 customers in Boulder County and about 3,400 in Jefferson County.

Areas outside the two counties could also lose power, the company said.

The company said restoration times will be impacted by continuing high winds and the extent of damage to the system, and for some customers, outages may extend through the weekend.

By about 3 p.m., 8,000 customers were without power due to unplanned outages in addition to the planned shutoff, according to Xcel’s outage map. About 7,000 of those were in Boulder County. Boulder and areas along the Interstate 25 corridor are under a Red Flag warning until 9 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.