Blue Ridge Energy Responds to Outages Caused by High Winds, Lightning Storm

LENOIR, NC (March 2, 2017 7:30 am)…Blue Ridge Energy linemen have all outages restored as of 7:30 am this morning after an unusual winter thunderstorm with high winds and lightning left over 1,000 members in the dark primarily in Watauga and Ashe counties.

The most severe damage was from lightning and fallen trees outside the cooperative’s rights of way damaging power lines and poles. Severe weather began at 4:30 pm Tuesday and continued through the night, with outages affecting various locations during that time across the cooperative’s service area during that time.

Broken power poles brought down a major three-phase power line at 5:50 pm in Watauga County, affecting 610 members primarily in the areas of Goforth and Possum Hollow Roads. Linemen restored the majority of outages within 90 minutes although some were out for up to eight hours as final repairs were made for complete restoration.

In Ashe County, 10 different locations were damaged beginning at 4 pm, affecting 313 members primarily in the Beaver Creek area. Broken power poles also damaged lines in this area, with some members out for up to five hours for these repairs.

In Alleghany County, 63 members at various locations were affected by the storm from 3:41 pm until full restoration at 8:43 pm Tuesday.

In Caldwell County, 30 members were affected beginning at 4:30 pm in five different locations, primarily in the Patterson, Kings Creek and Falls Ave. areas.

Members may report an outage at any time by calling the cooperative’s PowerLine at: 1-800-448-2383. Outages can also now be reported by using the new Blue Ridge mobile app available for free on the App Store and Google Play. A live outage map is available on the app and at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com to check current outages and estimated restoration times.

As a safety reminder, Blue Ridge Energy reminds the public to stay far away if you see a downed power line! Downed lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous and even deadly. Only a trained lineman should handle or be near a downed power line. If you see a downed line, please call the cooperative at 1-800-451-5474.

Blue Ridge Electric serves some 74,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Avery and Alexander counties.