Fast- moving storm batters eastern WA

For any of our readers who might still be wondering why the much-hyped Avista power outage that was scheduled to occur last Wednesday evening never materialized. If you chalked it up to the violent storm that passed over Odessa and then moved on to Colville, Spokane and further east, you would be right.

Even though the storm moved quickly through Odessa, dumping enough rain to make the downtown streets flow with several inches of water, the damage it did through a combination of wind, lightning and water as it moved into other areas meant that Avista personnel were called upon to perform emergency repairs in those areas. Storm-caused power outages were reported in many different communities.

The following day, Thursday, many businesses in Lincoln County were without Internet service, including Wheatland Bank branches in Odessa and Davenport, the Subway in Davenport. The Record continued to have service through Odessa Office Equipment, but could not connect to some other businesses that were without service.

The culprit for the Internet outage was a damaged fiber-optic cable. CenturyLink crews repaired the cable that was severed by a fallen tree near Fish Trap Lake and Internet services were completely restored in all eastern Washington communities previously affected by this outage by late last Thursday afternoon.

Press releases from Avista reported the following:

Storms that blew through Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho caused widespread damage to Avista’s electrical system. At the height of the outage, nearly 40,000 Avista customers were without power.

Avista crews assessed the damage to its system which included damage to transmission and distribution poles and lines, as well as to substations. Avista crews from areas not affected by the storm relocated to assist crews in areas hardest hit.

Approximately 27,000 customers were still without electrical service at 5:30 a.m. on July 24. Avista crews worked throughout the night to restore power to over 10,000 customers.

In storms such as this one Avista needs to repair its major infrastructure such as substations and transmission lines, allowing them to bring power back on to larger numbers of customers. Multiple repairs at different locations on the system may be required before power can be restored in some locations.

Avista said this was the worst storm damage to its electrical system since the Ice Storm in 1996. Over a four-day period, Avista crews from throughout the region, along with contract crews, worked around the clock to restore power to nearly 40,000 customers.

Now that electricity has been restored to all its customers, Avista is getting a clearer picture of the extent of the devastation. Preliminary numbers show that more than 120 poles had to be replaced to rebuild the backbone of the transmission and distribution system after high winds toppled trees onto power lines and snapped power poles Wednesday afternoon, a significant increase over the 60 poles initially identified immediately after the storm.

“I’m proud of the dedication and commitment of our employees who always rise to the challenge during any outage situation. Over the past several days they worked tirelessly on behalf of our customers. We’re also grateful for the assistance we received from the five contractors who provided additional manpower to help speed up our recovery and restoration efforts,” said Avista Utilities President Dennis Vermillion.

Beyond the electrical crews who were on the frontlines replacing poles, restringing wire and rebuilding the electrical system, there were countless employees working behind the scenes providing support to those in the field:

• Dispatchers worked around the clock to prioritize work and dispatch crews to areas of highest need. They managed more than 13,700 outage reports from customers.

• Because each outage situation was different, two-person “advance teams” went on location to assess damage and determine in advance what materials were needed for each job. This meant crews arrived onsite with the right equipment and materials, saving time and working efficiently.

• Supply chain and warehouse employees worked around the clock to provide materials needed for repairs. Preliminary numbers show:

o In Spokane alone, at least 86 wood distribution poles were replaced.

o 40 transmission poles were issued across Avista’s service territory.

o Crews used more than 13,000 feet of conductor wire to replace downed power lines.

• General foremen and operations managers orchestrated how to allocate Avista and contract crews, redeploy resources as they completed work and made sure employees were taking rest periods to work safely.

o It was difficult to find lodging for contract and out-of-town crews because two international conventions were underway and every hotel/motel room was booked within 60 miles of Spokane. At times, Avista used buses to shuttle crews back and forth from Spokane to Pullman to sleep.

• Call center representatives worked around the clock answering thousands of customer calls, taking outage reports and providing information to customers about expected restoration times.

• External and internal communications kept the information flowing to customers, the media and employees, providing timely and relevant updates.

“It’s an incredible logistical challenge. As we begin to tally the numbers of people and amounts of material needed to make repairs and get power flowing back to our customers as quickly and safely as possible, one thing is clear – it is a monumental achievement,” said Vice President of Energy Delivery Don Kopczynski.

“I heard that as electricity was restored to the last group of customers in the Inchelium area near Colville, neighbors stood in the street cheering,” added Kopczynski. “That kind of appreciation is why Avista’s employees work around the clock to keep the lights on for our customers.