Last Updated on January 24, 2013 4:30 pm
Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation is on high alert and employees are monitoring severe winter weather of sleet, freezing rain and snow predicted for the cooperative's service area in the mountains and foothills of northwest North Carolina.
If members have an outage, they should report it over the cooperative's PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383. Employees are on standby, ready to respond in full force at any time of the day or night should outages occur.
Blue Ridge Electric offers the following tips to help members stay comfortable and safe should an outage occur. Have the following supplies on hand in a location that each member of the household can locate quickly:
Flashlights and fresh batteries
Matches with firewood and kindling or
A grill with extra propane charcoal and lighter fluid
Radio with fresh batteries to listen to weather and news reports
Extra blankets, sleeping bags, quilts
Oil lamps and extra oil
Wind-up or battery operated clock
Non-perishable food
Manual can opener
Paper plates and plastic utensils
Bottled water or gallon jugs filled with water for drinking and cooking
Formula and extra diapers for babies
Thermos for keeping drinks and baby formula warm
Emergency numbers such as Blue Ridge Electric's PowerLine, local emergency management, police and hospital contacts.
Additionally, if you require a regular medication, be sure to keep extra supplies on hand. If you or a family member requires oxygen, it's a good idea to have a back-up power source and a personal emergency plan that includes family, friends or local emergency management sources to assist you if needed.
For checking outage status, Blue Ridge Electric provides an online outage map at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com. The cooperative also provides information during widespread outages its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blueridgeemc and Twitter page at www.twitter.com/blueridgeemc.
