Measuring the Worst Power Outage in Oregon History

In three days, Portland emergency operators received 563 calls reporting downed power lines.

Union Station. (Wesley Lapointe)
By Shannon Gormley and Tess Riski

330,000

Oregonians left without power Feb. 15 following an ice storm across the Willamette Valley

30%

The statewide share of Portland General Electric customers without power Feb. 15

12,000

Pacific Power customers in Portland who lost power between 3 and 5 am on Feb. 15

6,711

PGE power lines down as of Feb. 16

563

Portland emergency calls reporting downed power lines between Feb. 12-15

275

Portland 911 calls asking to check on the welfare of people Feb. 12-14—a 58% increase from the same period in 2020.

Sources: Office of the Governor, Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, Portland Fire & Rescue, Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications

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911Bureau of Emergency Communicationspacific powerportand fire and rescuePortland General Electricpower linespower outage

Shannon Gormley

Shannon Gormley

Shannon Gormley is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She covers local and non-local music in Portland, and writes for Baltimore City Paper whenever she's visiting her hometown.

Tess Riski

Tess Riski

Tess Riski covers cops, courts, protests and extremism. She joined Willamette Week in 2020.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

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