Avista continues restoration efforts following windstorm

The following is a message from Avista Utilities to their customers.

We want to thank you for your patience as we work to assess damage, restore power and provide estimated restoration times for all of you who lost power as a result of this unique and challenging storm. With the extent of the damage, we anticipate some of you will be out of power for multiple days, and we encourage you to prepare for this. We understand this unknown can be challenging and frustrating, and we are committed to getting you this information and restoring your power as quickly and safely as we can.

Our crews made progress as they worked throughout the night to continue to assess widespread damage and restore outages caused by Wednesday’s significant windstorm. At its peak, this windstorm matched the speeds of the historic 2015 storm.

Extensive damage will take time to repair

The storm caused damage to both the transmission and distribution systems, with the primary damage involving trees coming into contact with lines and bringing wires down. Our crews continue to navigate downed trees and debris across significant territory, at times rugged and difficult to reach in some areas, adding complexity in assessing the full extent of the damage. The continuing assessments and repairs will be time-consuming.

We are encouraging customers to be prepared for extended outages and make arrangements for resources as needed.

Estimated Restoration Times

While we continue to assess damage, we are able to provide initial estimated restoration times by service or geographic area. These estimated restoration times are not specific to individual customer homes or businesses, and actual restoration times may be shorter or longer. As further assessments are completed and resources assigned for repairs, estimated restoration times will be updated. Customers within these areas can use these estimated restoration times as a guide.

As the restoration process moves ahead, we will provide updates on estimated restoration times on our outage map at myavista.com/outage.

All available resources are working the outages, including line crews, 32 contract crews and 19 vegetation management crews. We were able to acquire an additional 7 mutual aid crews from utilities outside the area that will arrive today to support the restoration.