Blue Ridge Electric on High Alert

Lenoir, North Carolina (January 21-9:30 p.m. update, 2010) – Line technicians with Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation are working to restore power this evening to 185 members in Alleghany, Ashe, and Watauga counties.

Ice accumulation affecting power lines and trees are the cause of this evening's outages. The majority of outages are currently in Alleghany County where 112 members are without power. Ashe County has 69 outages, while Wilkes County has three outages, and Watauga County has one outage as of 9:30 p.m.

Weather reports are predicting a possible 1/4 inch of ice through tonight. Blue Ridge Electric remains on special high alert status with more than 20 crews on standby ready to assist Blue Ridge line technicians if icing causes widespread, major outages.

Blue Ridge Electric members should report outages by calling the cooperative's Powerline at 1-800-448-2383. View a live outage map.

As a safety reminder, downed power lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous or even deadly! The cooperative reminds members to stay far away from downed power lines and to report them immediately to Blue Ridge Electric.

More safety and preparation 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.