Tens of Thousands Without Power as Wind Storm Hits Oregon

South winds of 20 to 30 MPH with gusts of 40 to 50 MPH are expected to continue in the Willamette Valley until later this afternoon.

Salem-News.com

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

More than 30,000 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.

At his hour, impact is concentrated in Washington County, East Marion County, and Southern Clackamas County. West Beaverton and Aloha have more than 5,000 customers affected.

Close to 3,000 are offline in the Portland West Hills. Sherwood has a significant outage with 2900 offline. More than 3,000 are without power in the Molalla area. Central Portland and north Clackamas County have the lowest numbers of outages.

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.

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.

In Eastern Oregon, there are reports in the town of Joseph that the town's post office has been hit by a downed tree, and numerous reports of power outages in Wallowa county. There are also reports out of Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach of people trapped inside the park by down trees and power lines.

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 strong 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. At this hour, Newport is reporting winds of 47 MPH, Garibaldi is reporting winds of 52 MPH, and Florence is reporting winds at 45 MPH, and Astoria had a peak wind gusts up to 57 MPH.

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