Hurricane Helene hit the Blue Ridge service area with a vengeance, leaving widespread damages to the system. At 2:00 p.m. today almost 64,000 meters across five counties are without power. That number represents 88% of the total system. Hampered by fallen trees and power lines along with flooding in some areas, crews have begun the multi-day task of restoring service. At best, it is estimated there are at least 300 broken poles across the system.

This catastrophic storm has affected our entire state, and estimates are that more than 50% of the state is without power.

President and CEO Jim Lovinggood states, “This is the worst damage we have ever seen at Blue Ridge. There are problems with transmission from Duke Energy to 15 of our substations. The winds that came from Helene blew trees down, making it difficult to get into many areas. We have all our resources working to restore power, but this will be a prolonged, multi-day outage for many of our members.”

Additional crews from Alabama, Maryland, and Virginia are assisting with the effort. Members who are unable to stay home or know someone that cannot be without power are encouraged to find shelter with someone else. Outages can be reported on the Blue Ridge app or by calling 1-888-258-3743.

Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative

September 27, 2024