Overnight crews, helicopter patrol help restore power after storm outages

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD crews worked overnight in difficult conditions to restore power to roughly 3,800 customers after a late-winter storm caused outages across parts of the region.

The outages began the evening of March 13 in areas stretching from Anderson Canyon toward the summit, according to information shared during the utility’s March 16 commission meeting.

Crews were dispatched into steep, snow-covered terrain to locate and repair damage, with line patrols taking place in the dark as weather conditions continued to impact visibility and access.

“10 p.m. is, as you would imagine, not the ideal time for patrolling a pretty rugged area given the conditions,” said Chief Operating Officer Dan Koch.

By early Saturday morning, crews had identified an initial cause of the outage.

“By early morning, the crew had identified a tree on the line and had removed that and attempted to reenergize, only to have the line trip out immediately,” Koch said.

With conditions improving, the utility shifted tactics to speed up the search for additional damage.

“So we arranged for a helicopter patrol, given that the weather was much improved by Saturday morning, and by noon, they had identified another tree on the line and had been able to remove that, so most of the customers were restored fairly quickly,” Koch said.

Restoration continued through the day, with most customers brought back online Saturday and full service restored later that evening, around 8 p.m., according to the update.

Commissioners were told the incident highlighted both the challenges of maintaining service in mountainous areas during winter weather and the importance of adapting response strategies as conditions change.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media