The scene in the MacLeay Road area of south Salem on Saturday, Feb. 13. (Emil Marjan photo)
Portland General Electric can’t yet say when the lights will turn on for most of Salem after ice accumulation Sunday overnight caused another wave of outages across western Oregon.
As of noon Monday, more than 69,000 Marion County homes and 2,500 in Polk County were without power, many since Friday night. Customer accounts on the PGE website stopped displaying estimates for restoring service Monday.
“We’re hoping to keep customers updated as quickly as we can, but it’s going to take a lot of time,” said Elizabeth Lattanner, PGE spokeswoman. She said the complex nature of the repairs, which involve generating stations, transmission lines and substations, means they don’t yet have an estimate.
Across Oregon, 288,000 PGE customers were without power as of 12:30 p.m. Monday, the utility said, up from 221,000 Sunday evening.
Crews from Washington, Montana and California were traveling to Oregon to aid in restoration, Lattanner said. The utility had more than 2,500 people working to restore power, according to a statement Monday afternoon.
Lattanner cautioned falling tree branches may still knock out power for local houses, including some who have already had power turned back on.
“As things melt we will continue to see tree limbs down,” she said.
WHO TO CONTACT:
Tree or road issues in Salem:
Salem Public Works – 503-588-6311 or email [email protected]
Tree or road issues outside Salem in Marion County: Marion County Public Works Department by calling 503-588-5304.
POWER OUTAGE:
PGE: 503-399-7717
Salem Electric: 503-362-3601
LATEST SALEM FORECAST: National Weather Service
LATEST STATE ROAD CONDITIONS: Oregon TripCheck
