Outages Continue Decreasing

Ashe County Fully Restored; Watauga County: 642

Lenoir, North Carolina (December 29, 2009-9 p.m. update) - Outage restoration is complete in Ashe County and only 642 members remain without power in Watauga County as of 9 p.m. tonight, according to officials with Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation.

Earlier this evening, line technicians were working to reach 203 different sources of outages where lines and poles have been damaged in Watauga County. Linemen are still in the field this evening and will continue work early Wednesday until all power is fully restored.

As final outage locations were repaired, there may be single residence outages that would be difficult to detect; therefore, members in Ashe County are asked to contact the cooperative at 246-7138 or 1-800-448-2383 if they're at the service location and still do not have power.

More than 25,000 members were without power at the height of the outages after the worst ice storm in recent history hit the High Country on Christmas day.

The ice storm not only damaged about half of the cooperative's 7,000 miles of power lines, it also brought down massive amounts of trees, further damaging power lines and leaving behind 150 broken poles. Many of the outage sources where the system was damaged was in remote areas of rough, mountainous terrain. In some cases linemen are using bulldozers to get through debris which means power poles must be set primarily by hand without the assistance of line trucks, which is a much lengthier process.

"The things that make our mountain districts beautiful--the many trees, hillsides and rough terrain--also make it more difficult to restore power after such a severe weather event that has torn down so much of the system," said Renee Whitener, director of public relations.

"A large number of crews from 11 other utilities responded to our request for help and more than 300 linemen worked on power restoration," she continued. "We want to thank everyone who has had a part in feeding and housing all our line technicians so that they can continue to work in these tough conditions. Many of them have been here since Christmas morning, working long hours to get power restored as quickly as possible," she added.

Assisting Blue Ridge line technicians are crews from neighboring cooperatives Rutherford, Randolph, Piedmont, EnergyUnited, UnionPower, Pee Dee, Lumbee River, and Central EMC, and Blue Ridge Energies as well as crews from Pike Corporation, Carter Utility Services and Asplundh Tree Expert Company.

The ice storm and falling trees pulled down many power lines. The cooperative reminds the public that downed lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous or even deadly. Stay far away from downed lines and report them by calling Blue Ridge Electric at 1-800-451-5474.

Members in Watauga County with special medical or life support needs should contact their local emergency management office for assistance at (828) 264-4235 or call the American Red Cross at (828) 263-2639.

Members can view outage updates at any time by visiting www.BlueRidgeEMC.com and clicking on the "outage map" link. Outage updates and other information is also available on the web site as well as on Blue Ridge Electric's Facebook page.

Blue Ridge Electric serves some 73,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Avery and Alexander counties.