PUGET SOUND, Wash. — It’s been several days since Tuesday’s bomb cyclone shook the Pacific Northwest and about 180,000 people remain without power.
Thursday night, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) posted a letter to its customers who are still in the dark.
“We know you are frustrated,” the letter begins. “The limited information we have been able to provide online, and the fact that you do not yet see our crews working in your neighborhood, is causing you to wonder what is happening.”
The power company says the system was so strong that it badly damaged their high-voltage transmission system. That’s the group of poles and wires that carry electricity from where it’s produced to neighborhoods. Much of the repair work will take place in hard to reach areas.
PSE says it has 143 line crews working around the clock. That is about three and a half times the typical number of working employees. Over 1,000 personnel from other utility companies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Canada are helping. PSE says 70 tree crews are removing downed debris.
At the time of writing the letter, PSE has:
· Restored 34 substations— 15 remain out of service. Each serves about 15,000 customers.
· Restored power to 5,3000 customers per hour.
· As of Thursday, 315,000 customers and 60 schools got power back.
“There is nothing more important than the safety of our communities, customers, and employees,” PSE says in the letter.
You can read it in its entirety here.
At the time KIRO 7 wrote this story, there were 1,241 active outages on PSE’s map which equates to about 166,672 customers.
For an estimate of when PSE will restore your power, click here and find the outage in your area.
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