Power to Blue Ridge Electric Members Restored
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (noon - September 19, 2003) –
Power to more than 700 Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation members was restored by noon today. The outages were scattered across the entire service area of Blue Ridge Electric and were the result of high winds from Hurricane Isabel invading the western part of the state after wrecking their havoc along coastal North Carolina late yesterday.
At the height of the outage situation for Blue Ridge Electric, 720 Blue Ridge Electric members were without power at 10 p.m. Thursday. By 6 a.m. morning, the count was down to 250 members without power in Watauga County.
Outages were widely scattered across Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties, and linemen worked throughout the night due to winds interrupting power off and on last evening.
Blue Ridge Electric also assisted in power restoration efforts taking place in eastern North Carolina last evening where 127,000 members of sister electric cooperatives suffered power outages. Twenty Blue Ridge Electric linemen were dispatched Wednesday to eastern North Carolina and assisted in some of the hardest hit areas.
High winds are expected to calm today in western North Carolina. However, if members should see a fallen power line the cooperative reminds members to think safety first. If you see a power line lying on the ground, or if a tree falls on a line, STAY AWAY!! Always assume the line is energized. Follow these steps if you encounter a downed power line:
(1) Keep away from the line and anything it touches.
(2) Send for help by calling your local Blue Ridge Electric office or 911.
(3) Stand guard, if possible, to keep others away from danger. Following these guidelines may save a life.
If members experience an outage, they should report it by contacting their local Blue Ridge Electric office or by calling Powerline—the cooperative’s automated outage reporting system—at 1-800-448-2383. The local numbers for Blue Ridge Electric are: Watauga County: 264-8894; Caldwell County: 754-9071; Ashe County: 246-7138; Alleghany County: 372-4646, and Wilkes County: 838-4655.
For more severe weather preparedness tips, visit www.BlueRidgeEMC.com.
Blue Ridge Electric serves 66,000 consumers in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Wilkes and Alexander counties.
