US cold snap leaves over 100,000 without power in Oregon

Portland General Electric Co

19/01/2024 18:53

Jan 19 (Reuters) - At least 100,000 customers in Oregon
still did not have electricity flowing to their homes on Friday,
as continued ice and wind limited efforts to restore power by
Portland General Electric  POR.N , the state's largest utility.
    Severe winter storms have pounded the U.S. Northwest in
recent days, and data from PowerOutage.us showed that Oregon was
the hardest-hit state with around 110,000 power outages.
    "After significant progress restoring all but about 5,000
customers from this week's weather, a third round of weather,
including high gusty winds and freezing rain, caused about
50,000 new outages," Portland General said in its latest update
on Friday morning.
    "We understand the disruption these outages can cause and
will not stop until the lights are on for everyone," the utility
added, with some 1,700 workers involved in its restoration
efforts. 
    On Wednesday, Portland fire officials said a downed power
line electrocuted three people to death in Oregon after falling
onto a vehicle, but a baby in diapers survived after a witness
retrieved the child from the scene.
    Freezing temperatures triggered peak power demand in parts
of the U.S. on Wednesday, a day after homes and businesses
consumed a record amount of natural gas for heating and power
generation.
    The severe winter storm also shut a U.S. Gulf Coast refinery
in Texas on Tuesday, triggered malfunctions at others and halved
North Dakota oil production. 
    North Dakota's oil output could take about a month to
recover after a severe freeze cut production by more than half
this week, state officials said.

 (Reporting by Deep Vakil and Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing
by Leslie Adler)
 ((DeepKaushik.Vakil@thomsonreuters.com;))