— from Suzanne Olson —
Orcas Island and Shaw Island OPALCO members reported power outages due to wind damage starting at 11am this morning. OPALCO crews were dispatched to multiple locations, and as of 1:45pm most services were restored on Orcas Island with the exception of the Highlands to Youngren corner. Estimated time for restoration of that area is approximately 3pm. Crews continue to work to restore power on the eastside of Shaw. There were isolated outages reported on Lopez and San Juan Islands.
OPALCO maintains an outage phone line for reporting current outages. Dial 376.3599, and press 1 to hear about outages underway, or press 2 to report an outage.
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Thank you, OPALCO.
We all should have expected the outages, but the quick return to service was a real surprise. Thanks OPALCO work crews! Good job!
Thanks OPALCO crews for restoring our service so quickly.
I wish Opalco would have a better system for passing information to us. When the power just goes, one can’t know the particulars right off the bat but it was frustrating to get the message about the power being off in the Rosario area, The Highland, Flattery Hill and be on the opposite side of the island. The 2 prompt did not work so there was no way to report that we had outages at Orcas landing, West Sound, Eastsound, Deer Harbor, etc. I was able to call friends and figured out it was island wide. Also called Lopez and San Juan and found they had power. Called Sebo’s in Anacortes and found out that Anacortes was out as I couldn’t reach friends there. It would be nice to know a bit more info so if it is going to be out for hours, then we know to start dragging out the generators. Thanks Opalco workers for getting it back on fairly quickly. My friend sent an email using her I Phone at 7:45 from Anacortes, still no power and they had been on generator since late morning.
When calling the 3500 phone number, the phone tree disconnected us as well when pressing 2. At the 3599 phone number, which is the number to call for outage, there is an identical phone tree. When you press 2, it connects you to the Sheriff’s office to report the outage. I would like to commend OPALCO for their prompt response and our power was restored on Buck Mountain.
The OPALCO lineman, along with the support staff, are the best.
Thanks for restoring the Power so quickly.
Jim Dingman
Thanks OPALCO for prompt response to multiple outages. And thanks also to funny looking old brown telephone that works fine when power is down.
In our neighborhood we experienced a sound(s) I have never heard in my life. In quick succession there was three very loud, low frequency ‘explosions’. These were not gun shots. Then the power went out. I live on Exton Rd. 1.5 miles from the ferry landing. Anybody have any idea what that was? I’m thinking transformers exploding.
Thanks so much for the quick turn-around on during the power outage. OPALCO has gotten so good at restoring power, that when we do have an outage now, I think, “Oh they’ll have it back on shortly.” Don’t mean to take your excellent service for granted!
Hi, Theresa Haynie here for OPALCO.
To Patty, it’s a real challenge informing members when the power suddenly goes out, and OPALCO employees are focused on one thing early on: getting lines repaired and substations back on line. The power outage silenced digital phones, so that reaching even the key businesses on the islands isn’t always possible. Century Link copper lines were still operational, but few folks even have those analog phones to take or place calls. We used Twitter and FaceBook to get the word out, even though many folks didn’t have power for their Internet devices beyond their mobiles.
To Tom D, you were witnessing two things: the OPALCO phone system answered the calls, and when you pressed 2 to report, your call was transferred to the SJ County Sheriff dispatcher armed with one analog phone. More than 1,600 calls came into OPALCO on Saturday during the power outage. The OPALCO IT folks are revising the call transfer procedure to avoid overwhelming the dispatcher during future outages.
Do sign up for OPALCO outage tweets and use the Twitter hashtag #OPALCOoutages. Our thanks goes to Orcas Issues for posting an early update on power restoration, and our linemen working in the middle of the heavy winds.
Thanks to OPALCO crews for quickly responding to our outage today at Hunter Bay on Lopez. Happy Thanksgiving!