Following a wind storm that struck the region Christmas night and into the morning of December 26, homes and businesses on Western Oregon Electric Co-op (WOEC) lines stretching from Vernonia to Timber, Buxton, and beyond are still without power, and there’s no estimate when electricity will be restored.
“We are experiencing scattered outages across our entire service area, with crews encountering broken poles and downed power lines. These repairs take time, and we do not have an estimated time of restoration,” the co-op said in a social media post made at 3 p.m. Thursday. These areas were listed by WOEC as still experiencing outages:
In the greater Banks region:
Pihl Rd.
John Lee Rd.
Pumpkin Ridge
Buxton
Timber
Hwy 26
Elsewhere in the co-op’s territory:
Moores Valley & surrounding areas
Hagg Lake
Patton Valley
Seaside
Elsie
Hamlet
Onley
Vernonia
Mist
Scappoose-Vernonia Highway
Chapman
Scappoose
The problem is twofold. In the further-flung areas of the scattered co-op’s service territory, the rural nature of their power lines means fallen trees have downed power lines and broken utility poles, leaving WOEC crews, and mutual aid crews from other electric companies scrambling to repair numerous sites across four counties.
In Vernonia, the problem lies primarily with the transmission system.
“The Vernonia outage is primarily due to damage to the transmission system that powers our substation. Our power supplier has a crew on-site, troubleshooting the transmission lines to restore service when possible. WOEC has crews working on repairs to the distribution system for this area. We do not have an ETA for restoration,” WOEC said.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding,” West Oregon said. “We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available. Stay safe, and we appreciate your cooperation as we work to restore power to all affected areas.”
Visit the co-op’s Facebook page for updated information on the outage.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
