Last Updated on November 17, 2018 8:09 am
Lenoir, North Carolina (November 17, 2018—7:30 AM UPDATE) – Line crews worked throughout the night and continue this morning to get the final power outages restored for 760 members primarily in Ashe and Alleghany counties.
Thursday’s ice storm coupled with overnight winds led to many downed trees and limbs, damaging some 250 locations of the cooperative’s electric system and causing outages for nearly 12,000 members.
Crews are working to restore the following as of 7:30 am Saturday: 480 in Ashe County; 265 in Alleghany County, along with additional outages that just occurred Saturday morning for 15 members in Watauga County.
Downed power lines pose a safety danger: the public is warned that downed lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous, even deadly. Stay far away from downed lines and report them by calling 1-800-451-5474 or 911 immediately. Only a trained line technician working with the cooperative should go near a downed power line.
The cooperative reminds members to report all outages by calling 1-800-448-2383 or by using the Blue Ridge Energy mobile app. Outage updates are available any time on the cooperative’s live outage map at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com or on the mobile app.
Blue Ridge Energy thanks over 100 additional line technicians and contract tree personnel continuing to assist the cooperative’s crews, including: Carter Tree Service, Sumter Utilities, Inc., Asplundh Tree Expert Co., Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation, EnergyUnited, Union Power Cooperative, Randolph Electric Membership Corporation, and Surry Yadkin Electric Membership Corporation.
