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Crews continue efforts to restore power after storm, damaging winds

LENOIR, N.C. — Crews are continuing their efforts to restore power in the high country Saturday after powerful winds and storms swept through the area Thursday and Friday, causing damage, officials said.

Officials with Blue Ridge Energy said crews worked through the night, but winds on Friday led to additional damage to the area. Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty was in Blowing Rock as crews prepared for the second surge of heavy winds.

Alleghany County and a portion of Wilkes County, near the Alleghany and Ashe county lines, were hardest hit by toppling trees that brought down electrical systems, officials said.

Authorities said crews have been using chain saws to get to some locations that trucks can’t reach to repair mangled power lines and replace broken poles.

As of early Saturday morning, officials said, crews were working to repair 23 severely damaged, remote locations causing outages to around 250 members in the following areas:

  • Alleghany District: 185 members primarily in the areas of Mahogany Rock Road, Brinegar Lane, LilyPad Lane, Pendry Road, Saddle Mountain Church Road, Clark Hop Road, Lonmack Road and Meadow View Road
  • Wilkes County: 8 members primarily affected in the areas of Longbottom Road and Grissel Tail Road
  • Ashe District: 26 members primarily in Darnell Woodie Lane
  • Watauga District: 24 members primarily in Blowing Rock
  • Caldwell District: 4 members

Officials said that during the height of the storm damage, over 5,000 members in western Watauga County were impacted by a large voltage transmission outage.

Authorities said the damage was in a mountainous ridge-top line area, where it is difficult to reach transmission lines. Crews had to access it by all-terrain vehicles.

Line technicians manually scaled the large transmission line, hooking ladders to reach the top to make repairs and restore power, officials said.

Officials said they expect power restoration efforts to continue well into Saturday and that they are working with crews from South Carolina’s Blue Ridge Electric and contractor Sumter Utilities.

Blue Ridge Energy officials said anyone who sees a downed power line is urged to stay far away from it as it could still be energized, dangerous and even deadly. Downed lines can be reported to the cooperative at 1-800-451-5474.

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