High Winds Cause Power Outages Overnight

Lenoir, North Carolina (February 11, 2010. 5:30 a.m. Update) – Some compared yesterday to “being in a hurricane with snow” and line technicians with Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation worked in those conditions throughout the night and are on the scene this morning to restore power to members affected by extremely high winds.

As of 5:30 a.m., a total of 1,408 members are without power: 1,293 in Watauga County, 63 in Caldwell County, 29 in Alleghany County, and 23 in Ashe County. These outages are in 50 different locations and need some type of repairs such as replacing a broken pole or repairing downed power line.

Although weather conditions are expected to improve somewhat today, line technicians battled the effects of wind and blizzard conditions throughout yesterday, restoring power in one location just to have other outages occur in more locations. Even in the foothills of Caldwell County, winds were extremely strong and that county experienced the majority of outages on Wednesday. This morning, however, the majority of outages are in Watauga County.

To report an outage, members of Blue Ridge Electric should call the cooperative's Powerline at 1-800-448-2383. A live outage map is available at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com (click on the link at the bottom, right hand side of the home page). Updates and information are also available on the cooperative's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blueridgeemc.

The cooperative reminds members that power lines lying on the ground or other structures, or that appear damaged, can still be energized and therefore dangerous-even deadly-if contact is made with the line. The public should keep far away from downed or hanging power lines, and should also keep away from any structure the line may be touching. Furthermore, never drive a vehicle over downed power lines or get out of your car if downed power lines are on or around it. To report a downed power line and its location, speak with a Blue Ridge representative at 1-800-451-5474.

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