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Since Yesterday Afternoon, Beech Still Without Power as Community Comes Together for ‘Big Camping Trip’

By Jesse Wood 

Nov. 2, 2012. The Town of Beech Mountain lost power yesterday around 3 p.m. due to damage of a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) transmission line after the recent snowstorm that featured icy conditions, high winds and more than 13 inches of snow atop Beech.

Crews from the TVA and Mountain Electric Cooperative (MEC), which purchases wholesale power from the TVA on a mainline out of Tennessee, have been working through the night to restore power to Beech Mountain and those winter conditions have hindered progress.

“We have not heard when we’re going to have it back on,” said a representative from MEC said. “We’re hoping for this afternoon.”

On Friday morning, Fred Pfohl, owner of Fred’s General Mercantile, was running a generator in his store and said the estimated time for the power outage to end keeps being pushed back.

“Yesterday it was going to be 10 o’clock last night, then midnight, then this morning 8 o’clock, 10 o’clock, and now we are hearing it may be after lunch,” Pfohl said. “Someone said they have to bring out a helicopter to restring a wire. I don’t know exactly. We’re just hoping for the best, and everybody’s helping each other.”

Pfohl said that if anybody needs something, the community has them covered when mentioning that the Buckeye Recreation Center and both fire stations have back up generators for folks to go and stay warm.

Pfohl said the past 24 hours have felt “kind of like one big camping trip” atop Beech and when comparing the conditions on Beech to the plight of those in Brooklyn and New Jersey, he added, “We’re doing all right.”