Avista reports outages due to wind

SPOKANE — Monday’s major windstorm left roughly 33,000 Avista customers in Washington and Idaho without electricity, according to the Spokane-based utility.

The company said in a mid-Monday press release that customers should expect to be without power for one or two days.

The company was assessing the extent of the damage and would have more accurate estimates of when power will be restored to affected areas once that is done, the company said.

“The wind is still blowing, and outages are still occurring,” the company said. “Additionally, Avista’s system is currently operating under dry land mode, which is an approach that helps decrease the potential for wildfire and requires teams to physically patrol certain rural and forested areas before the line can be re-energized.”

Avista recommends that all customers who have lost power turn off all appliances that were on prior to the power loss, unplug electronic equipment, leave a light or radio on to alert them when power has been restored, and turn on a porch light to let power crews know who has had their electricity restored.

Customers should stay away from any downed power lines, should not attempt to remove tree limbs from downed or sagging lines, and should call Avista at 800-227-9187 immediately to report any downed power lines.

— Charles H. Featherstone