Avista crews and support staff remain fully engaged in power restoration efforts as around-the-clock work continues following Wednesday’s severe windstorm. According to a news release, substantial progress has been made toward restoring service.
As of 4:00 p.m. yesterday (Thu), approximately 86% of customers have had power restored, with 11,875 customers still without service. Most remaining outages are concentrated in northern Idaho, with scattered incidents across Avista’s service territory. The estimated restoration time for northern Idaho is Sunday.
All available resources are committed to the effort, with over 350 personnel working in the field. That includes more than 45 Avista line crews, 36 contract crews, and 30 vegetation management crews, as well as support by hundreds of additional Avista employees across the company.
Wednesday’s windstorm caused extensive damage to Avista’s infrastructure. Saturated ground from recent rainfall, combined with powerful winds, brought trees and vegetation into contact with power lines and poles, pulling many to the ground.
