Power Restored To Thousands After Snow Storm In Southern Oregon

GRANTS PASS, ORE – Utility crews are working around the clock to make repairs, clear downed trees, and restore power to the thousands of people in Southern Oregon after last week’s destructive winter storm. Pacific Power restored service to three-thousand customers Saturday and 15-hundred more on Sunday. About as many are still in the dark. At its peak, the storm left over 18,000 customers without service.

Read more from Pacific Power

GRANTS PASS, ORE—Pacific Power restored service to approximately 1,500 customers today – down from 3,000 at the beginning of the day – as crews continued to make further progress clearing downed trees and making repairs. Nearly 1,500 customers remain without power due to damaged lines and equipment from the destructive Jan. 16 winter storm that at its peak left over 18,000 customers without service.

The main challenge at this point are the hundreds of single outages spread across 60 to 70 miles with many of those single outages in outlying areas. Over 300 Pacific Power personnel will continue to work through the night and into next week to return service to all impacted customers.

Pacific Power encourages customers to report outages by calling 1-877-508-5088 or text OUT to 722797Text STAT to 722797 to check the status of your outage. Customers and media representatives can also track outages of any size online. Updates will be made as new information becomes available or at least hourly at pacificpower.net/outage.

To ease the inconvenience of power outages and assist crews in restoring powerPacific Power suggests the following tips and safety precautions:

  • Stay away from all downed power lines and utility lines. Even if the lines are not sparking, they could be energized and extremely dangerous. Call 911 and report the outage to Pacific Power at 1-877-508-5088.
  • Don’t drive over downed power lines.
  • Turn on your porch light. After crews complete repairs, they patrol the area of the power failure to see if any lights are still out
  • Check on your neighbors, especially those who may need special assistance. Also, check with others who have electricity, to see if you can visit.
  • If you have power at this time, keep mobile devices charged so that may be used in an emergency. Before anything happens, download the Pacific Power app to your smart device so you can have information readily available.
  • Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Most food requiring refrigeration can be kept safely in a closed refrigerator for several hours. An unopened refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours.
  • Remember your pets! Pets who spend a lot of time outdoors need more food in the winter because keeping warm depletes energy.
  • If you are using alternate heat or cooking sources, remember to allow plenty of ventilation. Never burn charcoal for heating or cooking indoors.
  • If you are using a generator, make sure to follow all manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure the generator is outside and not near any household air intakes. Do not connect the generator directly to your breaker box as this can create a dangerous situation for crews working on the powerlines. Instead plug essential appliances directly into the generator.

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