Outage Restoration Update: All Power Is Restored in the High Country
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Public Relations, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383, Ext. 3213; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (March 2, 2009, 10 a.m. update) - Members of Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation are enjoying full power restoration as of 10 a.m. Monday after line technicians worked throughout Sunday night and Monday morning to fix power line damage caused by heavy wet snow.
Severe winter weather Sunday evening disrupted power to approximately 6,000 members in Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties at the height of the storm. Caldwell County members experienced very few outages as a result of the storm.
Crews from Blue Ridge Electric are now assisting sister cooperative Energy United to restore power to members of the Statesville-based cooperative.
Heavy, wet snow pulling down power lines caused the majority of outages. When this situation occurs, power lines can "sag" into each other, causing a power failure, or lines can be pulled down to a breaking point. Equipment in substations can also be affected. When power is restored, it must be done in "phases" to certain line sections at a time in order to safely handle the load created by the demand of home heating systems and other appliances and electrical equipment and to avoid another outage.
To report a power outage, members should call Blue Ridge Electric's Powerline at 1-800-448-2383.
To view the status of outage at any time, visit BlueRidgeEMC.com and click on the “outage map” link which is located on the left hand side of the screen.
Blue Ridge Electric is a member-owned cooperative utility serving some 73,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, and Alexander counties. Find more safety and outage preparation information at BlueRidgeEMC.com.
