Linemen Work into the Night to Restore Power
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Public Relations, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager: 1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (December 16,--5:30 a.m., 2005) – As of 1 a.m. this morning, power was fully restored for nearly 900 Blue Ridge Membership Corporation members who lost power as a result of Thursday’s ice storm.
However, members in Alleghany County reported two new outage locations at 5:30 a.m. this morning, and linemen were on the scene to determine the problem and restore the power.
While the ice storm occurred during the early morning hours on Thursday, outages did not begin until that afternoon when ice began melting and trees and branches outside the power line right of way began falling into power lines. Additional crews were called in to assist in restoring power as quickly as possible Thursday evening.
The majority of the outages were in Alleghany County, where 400 members were affected by the storm. Outages were scattered across southern Caldwell County, where approximately 250 members were affected. In Watauga County, 150 members lost power Thursday. And in Ashe County, 92 members had outages.
To report a power outage at any time of the day or night, call the cooperative’s automated outage reporting Powerline at 1-800-448-2383.
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 68,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Wilkes, Alexander and Avery counties.
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