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Weekend windstorms knock power to thousands

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by Associated Press

Posted on November 22, 2009 at 9:49 AM

Updated Monday, Nov 23 at 10:29 AM

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Strong winds early Sunday morning knocked down trees and knocked out power to thousands in Oregon and Washington residents without electricity.

In Oregon, nearly 43,000 Pacific Power customers lost power around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. The majority of outages were  in Astoria, Seaside, and in the Grants Pass area. By 7:30 a.m., power had been restored for all but 9,600 of those customers.

More than 18,000 Portland General Electric customers in Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington, and Yamhill counties lost power early Sunday.

PGE outage information.

About 4,000 customers of Cowlitz County PUD are without power mid-morning Sunday, including parts of Longview, Kelso and Castle Rock. Power has been restored to about 8,000 PUD customers and a small number remained without power Sunday afternoon.
 

 

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fittergal290 said on November 22, 2009 at 2:48 PM

As many wind storms and ice storms as we get in this part of the country, I just don't understand why we have over-head utility lines. It seems like putting them under ground would make more sense, as well as improve the asthetics.

fittergal290 said on November 22, 2009 at 2:50 PM

With all the wind storms and ice storms that we get in this region, I don't understand why we still have over-head power lines. Putting them underground would make more sense, as well as improve the asthetics.

beachguy said on November 22, 2009 at 4:54 PM

Regarding putting lines underground, locally, that would be possible but it's hugely expensive to do UG versus overhead lines... Larger lines, which bring the power to the substations is just too much voltage to put underground.. and again, the $$ to do it would be way too high. Living at the coast, however, I can't believe that what went down in Long Beach last night didn't make the news! We have over 50 roofs damaged to the point of needing emergency repairs.. Power was out most of the night and some said we had gusts as high as 100 on the exposed highlands here on the peninsula..

gmawj said on November 22, 2009 at 6:57 PM

I live in Ocean Park WA. This is the 3rd outage in less than 2 months. This time it was for 13 hours. Freezers defrosted. Food spoiled. I would think there was a better way.

hankb said on November 23, 2009 at 12:12 AM

If only we had nipped global warming in the bud by squelching that silly industrial revolution. The wind would not have blown last night and we could have all spent our Sunday watching football. Yes, as the enlightened know, prior to the beginning of the machine age, all of earth enjoyed perfect weather with just enough rainfall to water the crops and provide drinking water, moderate temperatures at all latitudes, and sufficient wind to push our sailing vessels across the oceans. There was no reason to try to explain away severe weather events, because they just did not happen. But along with the industrial revolution, came the republican party soon followed by the fossil fuel powered automobile, meat consumption and polyester. So we of the Progressive/Red/Green Movement, are hopeful that Our Glorious Leader, B'HO, will do as He promised and return the seas to their pre-industrial revolution levels, restore the ice for the polar bears and reforest the Amazon basin. Mmm!! Mmm!! Mmm!!

newsdude said on November 23, 2009 at 1:32 AM

My neighbor lost her awning. It went up and over her house and into the yard next door. It's a rather large awning and it had to have been a pretty healthy gust of wind to take it that far.

magicman303 said on November 23, 2009 at 4:21 AM

my neighbors gazzebo steel frame construction was twisted and was laying on its side. when it happened it sounded like a big crash. a little more then just a strong wind maybe. vancouver wa

fittergal290 said on November 23, 2009 at 9:22 AM

So, beachguy...the constant repair that is currently needed is what....free? Initially the cost to put power lines underground would be costly. How much would it save in the long run, though? Just a thought...

shallowend said on November 23, 2009 at 11:07 AM

fittergal: I have underground lines and I still have outages and line repairs every time there is a storm. I don't think the underground saves a dime. Of course, it could just be that PGE is incompetent . . .

caffineaddict said on November 23, 2009 at 11:11 AM

So, fittergal290, who do you think would be paying for the lines to be put underground instead of overhead? That would be you. Nothing is ever free to customers of a corporation.

caffineaddict said on November 23, 2009 at 11:31 AM

So, who do you propose to pay for the power company to change from overhead lines to underground lines. I can guarantee you that it won't be a free service to the customers.

fittergal290 said on November 23, 2009 at 10:51 PM

shallowend: Are your underground lines being fed by nearby overhead lines or do you live in a city/town that has all underground electric? It would really suck if the latter were the case and you still lose power. If the former is the case, that would explain the outages. caffineaddict: Yes, you are right. Of course burying the power lines would cost money, and I believe that I said as much. I'm not talking about the massive feeder lines, only the ones that we see fail most often, the smaller lines on the poles. Is it cheaper to keep repairing them year after year, or would it save money in the long run to bury them? You do realize that those repairs aren't free, right?