Feb. 12, 2014. Employees of Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation are prepared to respond and are on high alert for a major snowstorm predicted for the cooperative’s service area.
No outages are occurring as of 1 p.m. Wednesday but cooperative officials advise members that the worst conditions will likely be Wednesday evening through Thursday morning. Members are advised to be prepared and keep the PowerLine outage reporting number handy: 1-800-448-2383.
Ten inches or more of snow is predicted. A heavy, wet snow–especially if icy precipitation is mixed in–could lead to outages. Generally, temperatures of 30 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer will produce a heavier, wetter snow that could cling to tree limbs and fall into power lines or cause problems by weighing down power lines.
Blue Ridge Electric features an online Storm Room complete with an online outage map, preparedness and safety tips, videos, and other resources at BlueRidgeEMC.com.
As a safety precaution, Blue Ridge Electric reminds the public that downed power lines can still be energized and therefore dangerous or even deadly! Stay far away from downed power lines–no one except a trained line technician should ever handle a downed power line. If you see a downed line, please report the location immediately to Blue Ridge Electric by calling any local district office or 1-800-451-5474.
In addition to the online outage map at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com, the cooperative also provides information during widespread outages on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blueridgeemc and Twitter page at www.twitter.com/blueridgeemc.
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 74,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Avery and Alexander counties.
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