With a second storm front expected in the next 24 hours, Golden Valley Electric Association brought in extra crews from Anchorage Monday to help restore power to more than 7,000 customers across Interior Alaska.
By Monday evening, power was back on for hundreds of customers, with about 4,800 households and businesses still without electricity.
Television station KTVF Channel 11 remained off the air Monday after its transmitter on Ester Dome lost power in the weekend storm.
Homes and businesses without power are located in the areas of Chena Ridge, Goldstream, Elliott Highway, Goldmine Trail, Badger Road, Mission Road, Moose Creek, Eielson Air Force Base and Harding Lake.
“While my house has not lost power during this storm, many are still without power,” Sen. Scott Kawasaki of Fairbanks said Monday. “Many folks who live in the Badger Road area and east Fairbanks have been without power since 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon.”
Kawasaki said that utility crews are working in treacherous weather conditions to repair transmission lines and transformers damaged in the weekend storm.
Crews are prioritizing outages that impact the largest number of households and businesses, said Meadow Bailey, GVEA spokesperson. Customers in more isolated outage areas may have to wait.
“Based on current conditions and the amount of damage being seen at outage locations, those members experiencing small isolated outages should be prepared for extended outages that could last days,” Bailey said.
The goal is for all customers to have their electricity restored by Thursday, Bailey said.
A major winter storm dropped heavy snow and rain across the Interior this past weekend. There are widespread outages, road closings, localized flooding and roof destruction, the National Weather Service reported.
“Please keep in mind that this goal is based on current conditions and significant new snow accumulation, freezing rain or wind may impact these timelines,” Bailey said.
The National Weather Service is forecasting up to 10 more inches of snowfall in the region through Wednesday. “We understand that long outages can be disconcerting, but we sincerely appreciate your patience as we work to get your lights back on,” Bailey said.
GVEA is urging residents to call and report problems with power loss, lines down and trees on power lines. The utility also is reminding the public to stay away from power lines down as they are dangerous.
To report power loss or a line down, contact GVEA at 907-452-1151. To track outages, check the GVEA outage map at https://outage.gvea.com/.
Contact Linda F. Hersey at 907-459-7575 or at [email protected]newsminer.com.
