Some 77,000 households in the Portland area are without power as of 9:30 a.m. Monday and Portland General Electric is cautioning that more poor weather could lead to additional outages.
Portland General Electric has cut by half the number of customers without power, which, as of Saturday, stood at a peak of 160,000. The current outage map is here.
But even with more than 600 crew members, contractors and others working to restore power, the number of households without electricity barely budged over the past 12 hours. PGE reported 79,533 customers without power as of 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Crews have discovered about 850 downed distribution lines so far, with many problems caused by fallen trees.
“Given the extent of the damage and conditions, PGE expects restoration efforts will continue through the week; customers are encouraged to plan accordingly,” the utility said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, posted just after midnight.
With strong winds forecast for Monday and the potential for freezing rain and sleet Tuesday, PGE said weather could potentially create additional outages and extend restoration times.
PGE on Monday morning said more than 1,400 workers will be on scene to restore power, including mutual assistance crews from California, Washington and Idaho.
“We know the damage to our system has led to hardships for our customers. PGE is focused on restoring power as quickly and safely as possible,” Benjamin Felton, chief operating officer at PGE, said in a statement. “We were proactive in preparations for this storm and secured additional resources, but the extent of the damage due to fallen trees, limbs, debris and ice throughout our service area made it difficult to access the hardest-hit areas and make repairs both big and small. The work these past three days has gone beyond just fixing downed lines to also repairing major substations and transmission lines that serve many customers. Our crews’ dedication to their jobs and PGE customers against extreme winter conditions is commendable.”
Get the latest updates about PGE outages here.
Separately, some 8,000 Pacific Power customers outside the metro area are without electricity, with nearly all the outages reported in the central and southern Willamette Valley.
-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628
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