While many areas received high winds, the Oregon coast was hit hard with some gusts over a hundred miles per hour. The Coos Curry Electric Co-op says they knew the winds were coming and were prepared.
“Crews have been working on restoring power outages since about 1:00 yesterday. Yes, they’ve been out all night and they’re still working,” Jacob Knudsen, Coos Curry Electric Co-op, said.
Further inland, director of the Jackson County Roads and Parks Department John Vial says the wind and snow made for dangerous conditions in the foothills of the mountains.
“Did this storm live up to expectations? I think that’s a matter of opinion. If you ask some of our operators that are way up in the high mountains, it definitely lead up to expectations,” Vial said.
Josephine County says the storm left little damage in its wake with more wind than snow. But with cold temperatures predicted overnight, both Josephine and Jackson county are working to get the slush off the roads before it freezes over.
“Depending how bad it snows, so if we have more snow, we will put more plows out,” Laurie Hansen, Josephine County Public Works, said.
While snow on the valley floor melted quickly, strong winds knocked several trees to the ground in Medford, including a tree police believe to be more than 50 feet tall on Plum Street.
“Some big trees and some little trees and sometimes it’s just branches, you know. Or sometimes the top will fall out of a tree because the trunk snaps,” Cory Crebbin, City of Medford Public Works, said.
The city of Medford encourages residents to call about downed trees. So far, they’ve received just under 20 calls. The city only responds to downed trees on city property.
At the peak, Pacific Power says 19,000 customers were without power across the region. At this point, power has been restored to most customers.
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