Power could be out for days for those between Tahoe City and Fallen Leaf Lake

Submitted by paula on Thu, 01/12/2017 - 5:15pm

5:30 p.m. update Thursday - The Tahoe Keys and Tahoe Mountain area has just lost power temporarily. The West Shore has been restored from Tahoe City South to Sugar Pine Rd. and HWY89 (735 Customers). South Shore crews are deployed and working on six primary wires serving multiple areas. Restoration times are estimated between 8:00 p.m. tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Tahoe Pines Area (Barker Pass Rd. to Cherry St.) has very heavy damage with multiple poles down that requires helicopter repair. Weather permitting, helicopter repair will start tomorrow. Customers in this region should prepare to be out for multiple days.

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For some, the effects of the blizzard are still lingering as their power has yet to be restored after heavy snow and a large volume of fallen trees took out multiple power lines. The information below is for the West Shore of Lake Tahoe and this story will be updated on South Lake Tahoe once the crews report in from the heavy snow areas.

Sporadic outages continue throughout the Liberty Utilities service territory, resulting in a very dynamic situation that changes hourly.

The west shore of Lake Tahoe continues to be out of power between Tahoe City and Fallen Leaf Rd and SR-89.

"Customers in neighborhoods with heavy damage should prepare to be out for multiple days," said Kathy Carter, the Liberty Utilities spokesperson.

Crews are working in two directions to restore power.

Direction 1: From Fallen Leaf Rd/Hwy 89 Northward. Restoration will move from Fallen Leaf Rd/Hwy 89 northward Thursday. The goal is to energize up to Tahoe Pines by midnight. Some neighbor-hoods with heavy damage will be isolated so customers further north can be energized.

Direction 2: From Tahoe City to Barker Pass Rd/Hwy 89 Southward. Restoration will move from Tahoe City south-ward. The goal is to energize up to Barker Pass Rd/Hwy 89 by midnight. Some neighborhoods with heavy damage will be isolated so customers further south can be energized.

Tahoe Pines Area (Barker Pass Rd. to Cherry St.):This area has very heavy damage with multiple poles down that may require helicopter repair. Weather is preventing helicopter access today but may be possible by Friday. Customers in this region should prepare to be out for multiple days.