Heavy, wet snow causes widespread outages in southern Oregon, northern California

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Approximately 18,000 Pacific Power customers from Glendale to Mount Shasta to Rogue River are without power due to winter weather conditions. Additional resources and crews have been called in from outside the area to help with restoration.

Given the extensive storm-related damage to power lines, the number of repairs that are necessary, and persistent storm conditions, Pacific Power is working to provide estimated times for restoration. However, customers in more remote areas with significant damage should plan to remain without service through the upcoming weekend.

“We’re tackling a challenging restoration effort because some of the impacted facilities are located in remote, hard to access areas,” said David Lucas, Pacific Power vice president of operations. “We’re bringing in additional internal crews, contractors and equipment to help with assessing damage and continue repairs. We appreciate our customers’ patience during all of this and will give updates as more information becomes available.”

Communities experiencing significant outages as of 5 p.m.:

  • Grants Pass and nearby communities, 15,000
  • Mt. Shasta/Yreka, 1,400
  • Medford and nearby communities, 700

Crews have been working non-stop since the storm began early Thursday morning, assessing damage and making repairs. Crews often have to cut their way through downed trees into many of the trouble spots. Approximately 120 crew members are at work on more than 200 outages. However, heavy snow is still causing more road closures, more trees to fall and additional damage to power lines. Crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power.

Pacific Power is coordinating with local emergency agencies and the Red Cross to potentially open warming centers in coming days. The company will share that information as it becomes available.

Pacific Power encourages customers to report outages by calling 1-877-508-5088 or text OUT to 722797. Text 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 power, Pacific 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.

Pacific Power also thanks customers in advance for their patience as we work to restore power. Crews make every effort to keep outage durations to a minimum and to restore power safely and quickly.