Avista crews are making progress on outages near Colville and Sandpoint.
Heavy snow is breaking tree limbs and knocking down power lines in Bonner and Stevens Counties. As of 4 pm, about 2,000 people near Sandpoint were without power and about 50 near Colville were also in the dark.
Avista crews have joined contract crews from areas where there are fewer problems to work around the clock and restore power. The first outages came last night. Crews used today to assess the damage and make a priority list. An updated map is available on the utility’s website at my avista dot com forward slash outage.
Avista asks that if you’re lost power or see a downed line to call 1-800-227-9187. If you do see a downed line, stay away.
And if the power’s off where you are, the utility asks you to turn off the appliances that were on and unplug your electronic gear, including your computers. That way, when the power is restored, you won’t have a burst that can cause damage.