Oregon Coast, Valley Battered by Strong Winds, Rain

Winds this morning have already gusted to 48 MPH at the Salem airport.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore. ) - The Oregon Coast and the mid-Willamette Valley is being battered this morning by heavy winds and rain. There are reports from the coast to the valley of numerous trees and branches being down, as well as scattered power outages.

About 25,000 PGE customers are without power, with the greatest concentrations on the east side of the Portland and Salem-area. PGE has all available repair crews at work restoring power.

Restoration work in the southern areas of PGE's service territory, was complicated by four transmission lines, the super-highways of the system, losing power in the southern region. PGE was able to route power in from other sources for most of those customers.

Concentrations currently include Mollala, Eagle Creek, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Silverton. Crews are mobilized and will continue to work to restore power throughout the day.

If you see a downed utility line, any line, don't touch it, don't even go near it. Call PGE at 503-464-7777 in the Portland calling area; 503-399-7717 Salem calling area; or 1-800-544-1795 outside the Portland-Salem calling area for outages or downed lines.

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Other Power Outage Numbers:

Salem Electric: 503-362-3601 Pacific Power: 1-877-LITESOUT: (1-877-548-3768) McMinnville Water & Light: (503) 472-6158 City of Monmouth: (503) 838-3526 Canby Utility Board: (503) 266-4021 Consumers Power: (541) 929-3124 Central Lincoln PUD: (541) 265-3211

A section of Reeder Road between Oak Island and Gillihan roads on Sauvie Island is currently closed due to downed trees and power lines.

As of 10:15 AM, 7,340 PUD customers are without power - including Castle Rock, Toutle, Ryderwood, parts of Kalama and in Kelso in the Ostrander Road, Mt. Brynion and Rose Valley areas.

A Wind Advisory is in effect for the Willamette Valley until 4:00 PM this afternoon.

South Winds of 20 to 30 MPH with gusts of 40 to 50 MPH are expected to continue ahead of a stron pacific cold front.

Winds this morning have already gusted to 48 MPH at the Salem airport, and 46 MPH at the McMinnville airport, and 42 MPH in Corvallis.

Winds will decrease later this afternoon as the cold fron moves through.

A Wind Advisory means winds today could cause minor property damage. Motorist in high profile vehicle should use extra caution until the winds subside.

A High Wind Warning is in effect until 3:00 PM along the Oregon Coast. Newport is reporting winds of 41 MPH, Garibaldi has had a peak wind gust this morning of 70 MPH, and Florence had a peak gust of 33 MPH.

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