The storms sweeping through East Tennessee have caused extensive power outages in Oak Ridge, Electric Director Jack Suggs said Thursday evening.
However, Suggs is in Nashville until later tonight, and he said he couldn’t estimate how many residents have lost power, although the damage sounds very severe.
“Right now, I don’t know anything except we have a lot of problems,†Suggs said. “It’s not limited to any one section of town.â€
Power was out along Oak Ridge Turnpike from at least Robertsville Road heading east to the Oak Ridge Mall, and there were reports of outages in other areas, including Grove Center, the Highland View neighborhood, the Central Services Complex, West Outer Drive, and New York and Jefferson avenues.
Thunderstorms moving south from the Ohio River Valley produced damaging winds, and a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 11 p.m. for southwest North Carolina and East Tennessee.
On top of that, the city’s telephone system is not working well, Suggs said. City crews are working to restore power to the intermittently operating phone system.
The city is providing updates on Twitter. Search for CORelectricDept.
“I will be trying to keep people updating on that,†Suggs said.
Based on what he’s heard, Suggs said the power could be out all night and possibly for a few days in parts of Oak Ridge.
He advised residents to stay away from any power lines that have fallen. Don’t call 911 unless there is a life-threatening emergency, Suggs said.
Carol D says
Our power in Oklahoma Hills went out just before the storm hit here. Power is back on already, but we lost power earlier this week as well for 2 hours. Didn’t see any downed trees from our street.
John Huotari says
We drove around central Oak Ridge a bit tonight, and it looked like power was on in all places we passed through (Jackson Square, Highland View, Grove Center, Woodland, Oak Ridge Turnpike, etc.).
Mike M says
Power was out at Rarity Ridge for about 3 hours but the city electrical department worked diligently to bring us and others back on line. The storms that took out the power, possibly part of the grid, were very intense and sustained over at least an hour.
Mare Martell says
I live in Highland View and we were without power from about 5:50PM when the first winds hit until nearly 6:50 PM.