Blue Ridge Electric Makes Headway in Power Restoration Efforts
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 (5 p.m., December 26, 2002) –Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation linemen are working throughout this evening on power restoration efforts to the remaining 2,200 members without electricity due to a severe windstorm Christmas Day that knocked out power to nearly 10,000 members in northwest North Carolina.
Some 46 contract crews are also on the scene assisting in restoring power to literally hundreds of different locations where power lines and poles were affected by wind gusts reaching over 70 miles-per-hour in Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties.
As of 4:30 p.m., approximately 2,000 members in Watauga County remained without power, while the count was down to 200 in Ashe County and crews had restored all outages in Alleghany and Wilkes County.
Blue Ridge Electric linemen are working against damage caused by what some call one of the worst wind storms in recent history. Many locations are accessible only after large fallen trees have been chain sawed and removed, and many outage locations are accessible only by carrying in poles and materials by foot.
Linemen and customer service staff were called in just before noon Christmas Day to respond to member telephone calls and outages resulting from unusually high winds causing damage to power lines and poles all across the Blue Ridge service territory.
Blue Ridge Electric appreciates the patience of members crews work diligently to restore all power to members. Renee Whitener, spokesperson for Blue Ridge, reminds members to stay away from downed power lines. “Downed lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous, even deadly, if you come into contact with the line,” she said. “You should keep away from downed power lines and any structure the line may be touching. Additionally, you should never drive your vehicle over downed power lines. We ask that if you see downed power lines to contact the cooperative immediately and try to keep others away from the affected area if at all possible.”
Whitener added, “We are working as fast as we can to restore power to help our members enjoy warm homes and return to their holiday activities. If you experience an outage, the fastest way to report it is to contact the cooperative’s automated outage reporting system PowerLine, at 1-800-448-2383.”
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 64,000 consumers in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties, as well as portions of Wilkes and Alexander counties.
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