Lenoir, North Carolina (4:30 pm, Friday, October 11, 2024) – Line technicians, tree specialists and grading contractors will continue restoration Friday night and over the weekend until the final 1,140 members impacted by Hurricane Helene are restored with power.
As of 4:30 pm Friday, crews are working to restore 678 members in Watauga County, 425 in Ashe County, nine in Caldwell County and 28 in Wilkes County.
Line crews came from across the state and eastern United States to assist Blue Ridge Energy in restoring power to 63,000 members without electricity at the height of the outages. Crews have worked around the clock since the outages began in the late evening hours of September 26. A significant portion of the cooperative’s electric system across all the counties it serves was damaged or destroyed: substations flooded, hundreds of poles broken or taken down by mudslides or swift water, and miles of mangled power lines wrapped in debris, fallen trees and power poles.
The cooperative has dispersed teams of service crews responsible for repairing and energizing tap lines as well as construction crews responsible for replacing broken power poles.
“Crews are keeping their spirit and are determined to restore the remaining outages as quickly and safely possible this weekend,” said Renee Walker, director of public relations for Blue Ridge Energy.