EWEB Restores Hundreds More Upriver Customers
Fourteen full crews worked in the McKenzie River area Sunday, whittling down the number of upriver customers without power to less than 860 as of 3 p.m. With cell service still down in the area, reports from field crews are limited to radio communication, making it more difficult to keep upriver restoration information current.
Starting with more than 14,000 customers out of service on Monday, fewer than 920 of our customers now remain without service on Sunday. Most repair work in Eugene is limited to incidents with just a few services out of power. Several smaller teams have spread out across Eugene to continue working these service restorations.
There is extensive damage along Highway 126, and along hard-to-reach secondary roads throughout the McKenzie River area. While we expect to restore many upriver customers through today and on Monday, some areas will require more time because we will have to rebuild entire sections of the electric system.
The extensive damage to the electric system in some locations, along with downed trees and deep snow in these areas, has delayed restoration.
We anticipated that there would be several upriver areas in need of near-complete rebuilds. As crews made their way into locations that were difficult or impossible to access earlier this week, they have found even more damage than was initially expected. EWEB is now compiling a list of these locations and there is a chance we could discover more.
Customers in the areas below may not see their power restored until Wednesday or Thursday:
- Leashore Drive
- Gate Creek Road (North and South)
- Gemstone Road/Emerald Way
- In addition, there are numerous single-home outages that are going to be difficult and time-intensive.
Residents are asked to watch for flaggers along Highway 126 and drive carefully in these areas so crews can continue their work safely, particularly as it gets dark. Go to tripcheck.com for the latest road updates.
If a customer believes their home is in one of the posted areas, and they are still without power, they should contact EWEB's outage reporting line at 1-844-484-2300. This will ensure their outage is still in our system.
Repairing the service line that provides power to a single home is often last on the restoration priority list and the most time-consuming. A crew might spend the same amount of time restoring power to a few customers as it takes to restore power to several hundred customers.
To speed up your restoration process, check to see if there is damage to your weatherhead or meter base on your home. If you find damage, contact a licensed electrician and then have the electrician provide a supervisory letter to us when repairs are complete.
Any customers experiencing flickering lights or partial power should contact EWEB via the outage reporting line at 1-844-484-2300. Those experiencing "brownouts" should turn off their main breaker and also contact EWEB.
