Oregon and SW Washington Updated Storm Information

Reports say that Oregon Coast cities, Astoria, Seaside, Lincoln City, and Newport are without power, and have limited phone and cell phone service.

(SALEM, Ore. ) - PGE crews continue to restore power throughout the service territory. Crews worked all night restoring power and covering new outages.

Currently about 3,500 customers are without power in the entire service territory, down from yesterday's 7,500 customers. More than half of those customers are in the east side of the Bethany area in Washington county.

While outages are now few in number in the hills near Silverton, Molalla, Grande Ronde and Willamina, it will take several hours to restore power in those areas, due to poor road conditions.

If you see a downed utility line, any line, don't touch it, don't go near it. Call PGE at 503-464-7777 in Portland, 503-399-7717 in Salem, and 800-544-1795 outside Portland Salem calling area.

Continued high winds and pounding rain on the Oregon and Washington coasts have cut electrical service to many communities, and crews from the Bonneville Power Administration are working to restore the high voltage transmission lines that serve these areas.

Because of the magnitude of this storm system, and the fact that it will continue through the day, BPA does not yet have an estimated time for when the system will be back to normal.

BPA crews are having some success in assessing and repairing system storm damage along the Central Oregon Coast and may have power restored to utilities in the Tillamook area later today. BPA and Pacific Power are working together to prioritize repairs as restore power as quickly as possible.

It is important to note that delivery of power is contingent upon each individual utility's ability to deliver the power transmitted by BPA.

"Protecting the safety of the public and our repair crews is the Bonneville Power Administration's top concern during severe storm situations," said Robin Furrer, BPA vice president of field services. "Our goal is to repair the outages and bring them back in service as safely and quickly as we can."

High winds and standing water continue to inhibit crews from safely reaching key pieces of BPA's transmission infrastructure in need of repair. In some cases, weather conditions still prevent crews from patrolling lines to determine the extent of the damage.

Several sub-grid transmission lines along the coasts and surrounding areas are out, affecting numerous public utility districts and communities. Utilities affected include Tillamook Public Utility District (PUD), Western Oregon Electric Cooperative, Grays Harbor County PUD, Pacific Power, Clallum County PUD and Pacific County PUD. Even if BPA lines are in service, certain utility customers may experience outages because of problems with their local network of power lines operated by their utility.

BPA has called in crews from other parts of the agency's territory to help restore service.

Clackamas County has closed Johnson Creek Blvd. at 70th Ave. due to flooding. Motorists are urged to use alternative routes. Telford Rd. at Rugg Rd. in the Boring area is also closed due to high water. Clackamas County motorists should continue to use caution because of standing or high water on many roads.

Southbound lanes of Troutdale Road are closed at the intersection with Cherry Park Road due to high water.

Southbound traffic should use 257th/Kane and Stark Street. Several other Multnomah County roads remain closed due to the storm. In the West Hills, NW Beck Rd. is closed between NW Skyline and NW Johnson due to downed power lines and trees.

On the Fairview/Gresham boundary, NE Glisan St. is closed between NE 202nd and NE 207th Ave. due to potential flooding of Fairview Creek. PGE is responding to the downed power lines.

The following Washington County roads are closed this morning: 209th Avenue at Stoddard Helvetia Road at West Union Road north of Jacobsen Laurelwood Road at Springhill Road / Hartley Road Oleson Road at Scholls Ferry Road Strassel Road Stringtown Road at Bridges 1281 and 1282 Timber Road at Hwy 6 West Union Road at Deerfield High water and fallen trees are reported on many other roads.

The Red Cross has opened evacuation centers in the following locations: St. Helens -- Lewis and Clark Elementary, 111 S. 9th St.; Vernonia -- St. Mary's Church, 960 Missouri Ave.; Clatskanie -- Clatskanie High School, 471 SW Belair Dr.; Tillamook -- Tillamook County Fairgrounds, 4603 E. 3rd St. More centers may be opened as the day progresses.

The Cowlitz County Public Works is advising all Ryderwood Water System customers to boil their drinking water after recent flooding caused a break in the main water line.

The Washington State Department of Health has been notified and Cowlitz County Department of Public Works is working to repair the water line and return safe drinking water to customers of the Ryderwood Water System.

Due to power outages, downed trees and flooding, most state offices in Clatsop and Tillamook Counties have closed for the remainder of the day, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services announced today.

The closure affects all state agencies except 24-hour operations, such as the Oregon State Police, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the state Department of Corrections. In Columbia County the Department of Motor Vehicles and Employment Offices are closed due to office flooding.