Windstorm Knocks Out Power to 11,000 Chelan PUD Customers

Over Chelan PUD 11,000 customers are without power Thursday morning after heavy rains and winds battered the Upper Wenatchee Valley Wednesday night.

Where the Outages Are Happening

READ MORE: Widespread Outages Hit Leavenworth, Chumstick

Most of the outage impacts residents in the Upper Valley, including Leavenworth, Peshastin, and Plain, as well as other areas like Blewett Pass, Manson, and Stehekin.
Chelan PUD spokesperson Rachel Hansen said, while the estimated time of restoration could be as early as noon today, some communities could see extended outages lasting more than 24 hours.

"Especially in some of our more remote areas, because there are so many downed lines and so much damage to our system," Hansen said. "We've got a helicopter in the air to get a better assessment of the damage, and we'll have a restoration plan from there."

What Caused the Outage

Hansen adds that the outage is caused by large amounts of rain as of late, combined with high winds, knocking over numerous trees in the area, which fell on Chelan PUD's main transmission lines from its dams to homes, as well as residential power lines.

Safety Warnings for Downed Power Lines

With countless power lines down and possibly fallen onto roadways across the region, the PUD reminds everyone to treat every downed power line as if it is live.

"There is no visual indicator whether there's power going to that power line or not, so you have to assume all downed power lines are live and will kill you if touched," Hansen said. "Especially with all of the standing water that's in the area. If you see a downed power line, don't drive over it, don't walk near it, don't touch it. Just stay away and call RiverCom 911."

Generator Safety Tips

If you have a generator running, the PUD has some safety tips. First, make sure it is running outside to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Second, the PUD asks customers not to plug a generator into an outlet in a wall, as it could injure linemen working to fix the outage in the area.

"What that does is you can send power back up into the power lines, and if our crews are trying to repair the damage, that could injure or kill them," Hansen said. "Plug [appliances] directly into the generator."

Chelan PUD will offer updates throughout the day on the power outage, which impacted as many as 14,112 customers Wednesday night.