Some EPUD customers see power restored, Lane Electric makes progress in repairs (2024)

UPDATE 1/19/24 8:06 a.m.

EPUD

Good news in the latest update from Emerald People's Utility District (EPUD). The district says they've made significant progress rebuilding their system across service territory, allowing them to energize a large number of main lines.

EPUD says this sets them up for bigger restoration numbers over the next couple of days.

On Thursday, January 18, 2024, crews were able to restore power in the following areas:

Jeans Road in Veneta
Jasper-Lowell Road Main Line East of the Jasper Mill
Highway 58 from I-5 to Dexter
Parkway Road south of the Pleasant Hill substation
Marcola Road between Hill Road and Parsons Creek
Town of Marcola up to Marcola Christian Church (school is currently isolated and out of power due to damage)
Emerald Parkway/Melton in Creswell
Cloverdale Main Line North End to Creswell

Crews have made progress on main line construction, but the following areas are still not energized:

Marcola Road South End
Highway 99 from Walker to Saginaw
Sears Road
Delight Valley School Road
North End of Sunderman Road
McKenzie View West End

For Friday's focus, EPUD says crews will work on the following locations:

McKenzie View Dr
Marcola Road by Old Mohawk
Sunderman
Hill Road
Jasper-Lowell Road
Jasper Park
Lost Creek
Dexter
Bristow
Highway 58 Near Pleasant Hill School
East Cloverdale
Sears Road
Meyer Road
East Saginaw Road
River Drive and Market Road area (Creswell)
London Road
Highway 99 South near Saginaw/Cottage Grove

According to EPUD, if your area was not listed about and don't have power, you should plan to be without power for a week or more.

EPUD says crews will work on refining estimated times of restoration on Friday, now that the main lines are near completion.

LANE ELECTRIC

Lane Electric (LE) says their crews, along with help fromOregon Trail Electric Cooperative, Harney Electric Cooperative, Midstate Electric Cooperative, Coos Curry Electric Cooperative, and DJ’s Electric, are working to make essential repairs and restore power to customers in all parts of their service area.

LE says in the McKenzie Area the Bonneville Power Administration successfully restored power to their Blue River substation through Cougar Dam.

However, due to this source, the restoration process requires a more deliberate approach to maintain a power balance and prevent disruptions. Currently, around 1,000 members have had their power restored, and we are actively making progress to bring power back to the remaining 245.

In Creswell and Pleasant Hill, LE says crews are actively engaged in the area, focusing on reconstruction the main powerlines that serve the community. According to LE, they've identified 12 broken poles from the Cloverdale substation to Enterprise Road so far, and an additional 20 broken poles from the substation to Bear Creek.

To ensure continuous power supply during this restoration phase, we are in the process of deploying a generator at the substation to provide power to members’ homes. Once power is fully restored to all residences, our next step involves the reconstruction of the transmission lines, rendering the generator unnecessary.

In Dexter, Lowell, and Fall Creek, 330 customers have been restored power, crews are making progress to restore power to the remain 550 says LE.

LE says crews are in west Eugene, Crow, Lorane and Veneta, working to restore power to about 550 customers and in Cottage Grove the Bonneville Power Administration was able to restore power to LE's substation. LE says they are still assessing the damage and will send crews to make necessary repairs.

UPDATE 1/18/24 1:39 p.m.

EWEB

Following the ice storms the region saw earlier in the week, the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) has been dealing multiple outages in our area.

According to EWEB it will take crews one week from Thursday, January 18, 2024, to complete restoration of the customer-owned utility’s power system. EWEB says the estimate is based on similiar experiences they'd seen in 2016 and 2019.

READ MORE | Power system restoration to take one week, some areas see power return

But, the utility company says the estimate may change depending on the scale of damage, available equipment to replace broken parts and how many contract crews are able to join EWEB staff crews.

EPUD

The Emerald People's Utility District (EPUD) updated on their Facebook that power has been restored to Jeans Road.

EPUD says there are 3 crews between Pleasant Hill and Dexter, working their way up to the town. The district says a lot of good progress with restoration efforts in Dexter, they say they're very hopeful to get a portion of the town up with power sometime Thursday.

EPUD

EPUD's latest update brings good news, over night crews were able to restore transmission service in both Cottage Grove and Marcola. The utility company says they are cautiously optimistic that this will allow them to begin restoration in those areas on Thursday.

In Cottage Grove, this may include South 6th Street and London Road. Crews will be working on Hillside Drive in preparation.
In Marcola, this may include the town of Marcola. Crews will move north and south from there in hopes of further restorations.

EPUD says crews will also work in the following areas:

Creswell
Cottage Grove
Veneta
Dexter
Pleasant Hill
Marcola
McKenzie View Drive
Coburg
Jasper Lowell

EPUD says the priority of Thursday will have crew continue to focus on public safety clearance and main line restoration.

According to the district, areas getting closer to restoration, possibly by Friday, include:

Jeans Road in Veneta
Highway 58 between I-5 and Pleasant Hill School
Jasper-Lowell Road, east of the mill
The town of Dexter
South 6th Street in Cottage Grove and parts of London Road (assuming transmission holds)
South 6th Street and London Road near Cottage Grove
Town of Marcola and areas to the immediate north and south along Marcola Road.

EPUD says that additional areas of Creswell will not have power restored until Friday at the earliest as they need to move wire over I-5.

Lane Electric

Earlier on Wednesday Lane Electric (LE) announced on Facebook that they were back to square one, thanks to the second round of ice storms the area saw on Tuesday. The ice storm saw multiple trees and power lines fall onto the roadway. The utlity company says that outages could possibly extend through next Friday, or possibly longer.

Removing a tree from power lines and replacing a broken pole can each take several hours. Crews are also responding to 911 emergency calls, prioritizing the removal of downed power lines and poles from roads and driveways. For safety reasons, it is crucial to avoid downed power lines, even if they appear de-energized. The safety of both members and our team remains our top priority.

LE says the McKenzie area is seeing 1,260 customers without power. "BPA was able to get the transmission line between Cougar Dam and the Blue River substation working last night for a few hours. Trees went through the line overnight and their crews are working diligently to clear them and get power back to the area. BPA has no estimate time of restoral."

In Cottage Grove there are about 1,120 customers without power. LE says that BPA is actively working to clear trees from their transmission line. At this time there is no estimate time of restoration.

In Creswell and Pleasant Hill, LE says there are about 1,630 members without power. Power restoration is being priotized based on speed and complexity, said the district. LE says members in Creswell and Pleasant Hill impacted by an outage may be served by our Cloverdale substation. According to LE, all of the transmission lines to the Cloverdale were substantially damaged and will require a complete rebuild. The utility company says Creswell and Pleasant Hill may be without power until January 26.

The following are streets served from this substation:

Creswell:

BAIN LN
BEAR CREEK RD
BEAR MOUNTAIN RD
BEARRIDGE RD
DANSTROM RD
ENTERPRISE RD
GREEN BLUFF DR
HAWKS WAY
HENDRICKS RD
N JACKSON LN
LAZY E WAY
LEAFWOOD ST
MEADOW LN
MORNING STAR RD
RAINTREE ST
RODGERS RD
RUSSELL OAKS DR
SPRING HILL RD
WILLS RD

Pleasant Hill:

CEDAR HILLS DR
ENTERPRISE RD
N ENTERPRISE RD
PAPENFUS RD
SPRING HILL LN
STAR RD
WATERSHIP WAY

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UPDATE (1/17/24, 4:45 p.m.): “As of about 4:30 p.m. [Wednesday], EWEB had restored power for about 4,500 customers across Eugene, from the Willakenzie neighborhood to the Friendly neighborhood and everywhere in between," EWEB spokesperson Aaron Orlowski said Wednesday afternoon. "This is big progress and we’re incredibly grateful for the support and patience from our customers."

Orlowski added, “Outages peaked this morning, when about 24,000 customers were without power. We now have about 19,500 customers without power. We’re going to keep working hard to restore those customers’ power in the days ahead.”

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UPDATE (1/17/24, 3:01 p.m.)

We spoke with Aaron Orlowski from EWEB who gave us an update on the outages:

Some of these outages will get fixed quickly, some will be days. This is a long haul. The weather has passed, but the damage has been done, and now we’re in the phase where we have to fix so much broken equipment.

Orlowski also provided some pictures of the outage restoration efforts.

More photos can be found in the gallery section at the top of this article.

UPDATE 1/17/24 2:56 p.m.

EWEB currently has every staff utility available at work making repairs.

Currently their map reads 271 outages in the area with 22,657 customers without power.

UPDATE 1/17/24 9:38 a.m.

EWEB

According to EWEB's outage map, there are currently 259 outages reported, with more than 23-thousand customers without power.

Currently 3 crews are assigned working on repairs.

Lane Electric

Here is an updated look at the outages on Lane Electric's website:

UPDATE: 1/16/24 7:25 a.m.

EWEB says they are preparing for what could be another round of severe outages Tuesday, with forecasts calling for 0.2 to 0.4 additional inches of ice.

While we're hoping this second wave of ice doesn't materialize, we're preparing for the worst. We're especially grateful for our upriver customers, who have endured the worst of this ice storm. Conditions have been so treacherous upriver that crews have been unable to travel there and even begin work.

EWEB's electric operations manager Tyler Nice said they are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

According to the utility board, additional help arrived on Monday, with five contractor crews getting ready to join EWEB staff crews in the field this week to help restore power.

EWEB says this is some of the worst damage they've expereinced, especially in the McKenzie Valley.

EPUD's latest Facebook update says crews were able to complete more repairs and restorations.

Monday's restorations include:

Creswell (Dale Kuni area)
Dexter (Much of the area)
Coburg (Van Duyn feeder)
Junction City (multiple areas)
Alvadore
Matthews Road (between Pleasant Hill & Goshen)
Main line/foundational repairs

EPUD says crews will focus on other areas strategically on Tuesday. New areas of focus include:

Mohawk Valley (including McKenzie View & Marcola Road)
Creswell
Cottage Grove
Pleasant Hill
Jasper-Lowell
Dexter
Junction City

The district says the hardest hit areas are Marcola and Cottage Grove, these locations are also without transmission feeds.

Crews are making progress in these areas but until BPA's transmission feed is restored, these areas will remain without power, and this could extend a week or more.

EPUD says they're looking into getting more loaner crews, in addition to the four they've secured, for further assistance to restore power.

Update: 1/15/24 at 1:00 p.m. via EPUD's Facebook:

"Pockets of restorations are happening" as repair work continues under winter weather conditions.
Felled trees and downed transmission lines continue to cause difficulties in efforts.

More details on specific area restorations coming soon from EPUD.

Original Story

Multiple electric companies in Lane County have reported outages across the area and crews have been working diligently to restore power to those who have been left in the dark.

The Emerald People's Utility District (EPUD) has reported widespread outages throughout their district, with Cottage Grove, Creswell, Veneta, and Noti being hit the hardest due to the loss of transmission lines in those areas. According to EPUD's Facebook, crews are making progress and are now isolating areas in order to begin repair work. The district reports that poles and wire are down all throughout the district, and say that repairs will take time to fix. Multiple highway crossings are also down or blocked, slow crews progress. EPUD says crews from other utilities will come out Sunday to assist.

Update - 11/14/24 at 10:27 p.m. via EPUD's Facebook:

Assessed damages throughout the District
Restored power to North Creswell
Restored Natron area
Restored Staffordshire area
Addressed many downed lines and safety concerns

The District says crews will return to the field early Monday morning, with four crews joining them from Cache Valley Electric and Christensen Electric, to assist.

EPUD says crews will be onsite in the following locations Monday:

Mohawk Valley (including McKenzie View & Marcola Road)
Creswell
Cottage Grove
Pleasant Hill
Jasper-Lowell
Dexter
Alvadore
Junction City
Coburg

Areas of Cottage Grove and Marcola are still dependent on the restoration of BPA's transmission line. EPUD will make repairs in those areas but power cannot be restored until the transmission line is restored.

As of Sunday, January 14, the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) was reporting 61 outages in the area, with over 3,000 customers without power. Since then that number increased to 76 outages, with 5059 customers without power.

Over the last 24 hours EWEB was able to restore power to 1,859 customers, 1,200 of those customers were in South Eugene, according to EWEB, served by the Hilyard substation.

EWEB says crews are following " the hierarchy of repair" to restore power to affected customers.

First, crews will make safe any situation that poses a threat to customers, such as ensuring downed powerlines are not sparking and are cleared from contact. If a line cannot be made safe, an EWEB “Wire Watcher” will be posted at the scene until crews can arrive to make it safe.
Second, crews will assess and restore transmission lines that serve large swathes of territory. Currently, the downed transmission lines are mostly in EWEB’s upriver territory east of Thurston. EWEB will fix these first as resources and materials allow. Two out of three transmission line serving EWEB’s Hayden Bridge Water Treatment Plant are down. The plant is currently operating on a single source of power. EWEB will prioritize restoring the secondary source of power to ensure reliable water delivery.
Third, crews will work on restoring power feeders (which may serve hundreds of customers) once their respective substations are powered and then taps (which typically serve a cluster of homes). Customers in EWEB’s urban territory should check the outage map to ensure their outage has been reported. Customers should bear in mind that smaller outages of 100 customers or less probably won’t be fixed until their outage is assessed. Always check the outage map for progress.

EWEB says dozens of scattered outages have been reported in Eugene, with a large one at the Hilyard substation. Multiple larger outages east of Thurston are affecting upriver customers.

“We understand how hard it is to be without power, especially with temperatures expected to stay at or below freezing through Monday. Many EWEB staff who are planning work and out in the elements repairing lines are currently without power themselves and are taking the call to serve the community,” said EWEB Electric Operations Manager Tyler Nice. “Our crews are out there working diligently to restore power and we humbly ask for patience from customers trying to get through the cold,” Nice added. “With roads slick with ice, we need to stay safe and prevent injuries and accidents. This means that repairs take time, and we constantly balance safety and speed with customer restorations top of mind.”

EWEB is warning customers that weather conditions Monday and Tuesday pose as a challenge as temperatures will be at or below freezing, with a strong chance of freezing rain.

This means that existing ice and snow will linger on roads, trees and power lines, which may cause additional outages.

Lane Electric is also reporting outages, with a warning to customers that power could not be restored until as late as Friday.

According to their outage map as of Monday, January 15, 2024, thousands still remain without power. However, Sunday crews made progress restoring power to approximately 300 customers in the Lowell and Fall Creek areas.

LE says that transmission lines supplying power to several of their substations have sustained damage leaving a larger number of members without power.

LE says the current focus is on repairing transmission lines, re-energizing substations and restoring power to as many affected individuals as possible.

As of 5:15 p.m. January 14, 2024, LE said that half of their substations are still without power, impacting the Cottage Grove, McKenzie and Creswell areas.

The Bonneville Power Administration, our power provider, needs to complete repairs on their transmission lines supplying power to Cottage Grove and McKenzie areas before we can re-energize those substations and restore power. Despite efforts, crews working on the transmission line for the Creswell area are facing challenges as repairs are being disrupted by trees falling into the power lines.