Last Updated on September 13, 2017 6:43 am
Blue Ridge Energy line technicians completed full power restoration on Tuesday night for nearly 8,000 members impacted by outages caused by severe weather from Hurricane Irma.
While the hurricane shifted its path and spared North Carolina from the devastating damage seen in other areas, its weather effects locally were strong enough to topple trees outside of rights of way into power lines. Sustained high winds and heavy rain overnight Monday and Tuesday morning led to a sustained period of damage to the electric system.
Watauga County was most heavily damaged, with outages affecting 6,400 members primarily in the western end of the county. In Ashe County, 950 members were impacted, largely in the Creston, Baldwin and Shatley Springs areas. In Alleghany County, 400 members near Hwy 21 near Wilkes County were affected. And, in Caldwell County, 110 members were affected, with most in the Mortimer and Edgemont communities.
Blue Ridge Energy encourages members to stay connected by downloading the Blue Ridge mobile app, available for free in app stores. The app allows members to quickly report outages and check the outage map, in addition to other features. Also stay connected with the cooperative’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts and on www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com.
To report an outage any time, call PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383.
Blue Ridge Energy serves some 75,000 members in northwest North Carolina.