10 am OUTAGE UPDATE: Crews Working To Restore Power from Overnight Icy Weather: Additional Crews Called to Assist

LENOIR, NC (10 am November 24, 2018 – OUTAGE UPDATE) — Blue Ridge Energy line technicians are battling downed trees and damaged power lines to restore power after an overnight ice storm that has impacted the cooperative’s service area in Caldwell County most severely.

Additional line technicians have been called to assist Blue Ridge Energy crews repair damage in 262 different locations on the cooperative’s system. The cooperative thanks those assisting from sister cooperatives Union Power and Energy United, and tree contractor crews Sumter Utilities Inc. and Asplundh Tree Expert Co.

As of 10 am Saturday, 2,242 members remain without power with 1,520 of those located in Caldwell County where the following areas are most severely impacted: Zacks Fork Road, Patterson, Ferguson and the Abingdon Road areas. Additionally, there area: 408 in Wilkes County; 159 in Watauga County; 67 in Alexander County; 58 in Ashe County; 14 in Alleghany County; and 2 in Avery County.

Outages began at 2:21 am Saturday morning and the height of the outages occurred at 6 am when 5,378 members were without power.

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.

Downed power lines pose a safety danger: the public is warned that downed lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous, even deadly. Blue Ridge Energy advises the public to 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.

Blue Ridge Energy serves some 76,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Avery, Alexander and Wilkes counties. Learn more at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com or on the cooperative’s social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.