Last Updated on November 25, 2013 2:03 pm
Employees of Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation are on high alert and monitoring severe winter weather predicted to bring freezing rain to the area this evening.
In the event of outages, members are encouraged to report them over the cooperative's PowerLine: 1-800-448-2383.
Cooperative employees are 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 if outages occur. Have the following supplies on hand, preferably in a central location that each member of the household can locate quickly if needed:
Flashlights and fresh batteries
Radio with fresh batteries for weather and news reports or have electronic devices well-charged or a back-up power supply available
Extra blankets, sleeping bags, quilts
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.
As a safety reminder, Blue Ridge Electric reminds the public that downed power lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous or even deadly. Stay far away from downed power lines; no one except a trained line technician should ever handle a downed power line. If you see a downed line, please report the location immediately to Blue Ridge Electric by calling any local district office or 1-800-451-5474.
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.
