Pacific Power crews are busy assessing and restoring weather related outages in Lincoln City while preparing for potential additional outages in western valleys as the Pacific Northwest continues to dig out from a fast-moving storm that dumped record amounts of snow in many communities and has blocked roadways throughout the region.
“Right now, our major area of concentrated effort is the Lincoln City area,” said Allen Berreth, vice president of operations on February 23rd. “Initially system reports were indicating the outages in Lincoln City were larger than they actually were. But within an hour that issue was resolved. We are now looking at about 2,800 customers without power and we are working to get those homes and businesses restored as quickly and as safely as possible.”
Regionwide, the snowstorm dropped large amounts of snow, but it was less dense than the heavy wet snow that fell over the holidays. Fewer outages have occurred due to falling tree limbs than the December 2022 event.
Now, less than 100 customers remain without power in the aftermath of a major snow and windstorm that hit the Pacific Northwest on February 22nd. The company expects to have the remaining customers back in service by this evening.
“Our crews and contractors worked through the night in difficult conditions to make these repairs,” said Berreth. “Our customers have shown a great deal of patience as we worked to get their power back on as quickly and safely as possible.”
As of 4 p.m. on February 24th, the Pacific Power meteorology team is monitoring a new weather threat headed for the area that could add more snow to a region that is only slowly digging out of what, in many locations, are record amounts of snow. The new storm, expected to hit coastal and valley regions of Oregon and northern California beginning Monday, has the potential to cause a new round of outages.
“As details about this new storm become more clear, we will be deploying crews and equipment based on these detailed forecasts to aid in any restoration efforts,” Berreth added.
