Membership MATTERS
Helene: Another “H” Named Storm We Won’t Forget
35 years ago, in late September, Hurricane Hugo made landfall near Charleston, South Carolina, tearing a destructive path northward into our service area. For that span of time, the storm was the worst in the cooperative’s history, causing widespread devastation to the electric grid from the foothills to the mountains.
In September of this year, just five days after the anniversary of Hugo, we were impacted by Helene. Helene made a historic mark on our service territory. By the end of the day Friday, September 27, it was clear Helene rivaled Hugo. As damage assessments by air commenced on Saturday, September 28, it was evident that Hugo had been eclipsed in the scope of damage done to our grid.
The combination of hurricane-force wind gusts, record-breaking flooding, and compromised mountainsides led to outages that rendered more than 70,000 meters offline. Hundreds of poles were snapped, knocked over, or in many cases, completely washed away. In some areas, time had returned to 1936, when Blue Ridge Energy was born and electric infrastructure didn’t exist in our area. For 16 days, Blue Ridge Energy crews and mutual assistance teams from around the country would begin the process of rebuilding what was lost. Through the chaos, stories of heroism emerged. Crews worked tirelessly, often in the dark, to restore power—united by a shared mission to bring light back to our communities.
We are Mountain Strong.
Perspective THE
Helene: Destruction Beyond Imagination
From Blue Ridge CEO, Doug Johnson
Mountain Strong: that’s where we stand after the most catastrophic storm left unimaginable destruction across our service area, to our electric grid, and to the very lives of our members and communities.
Hurricane Helene may go down as the worst storm in history for western North Carolina, and it was certainly the most damaging storm for your cooperative. But it did not get the best of those of us who call this area home! Many will continue rebuilding for a long time, and our hearts are with you.
We also continue rebuilding the electric system after Helene left behind hundreds of broken poles, miles of mangled power lines, a substation underwater, and, in many cases, washed poles and wire down the river or buried in mudslides.
It was truly a herculean effort to restore power within 16 days! It took an all-hands-on-deck approach from every employee and, most of all, it took an army of over 600, consisting of Blue Ridge Energy line technicians, help from sister-cooperatives,
contractors and others coming from different states, some as far as 14 hours away, working around the clock for weeks.
Thank you doesn’t seem sufficient to express the gratitude we have for those who answered the call to help, for our dedicated employees, and especially for our members. You have been so very gracious, kind and supportive to our line workers in the field and to all our employees behind the scenes working in so many different capacities to bring power back to our communities!
As we continue to recover, rebuild and restore our corner of beautiful western North Carolina, we have seen the best in people coming together to give their all to help those in need. We care about each and every member and we know many of you are still battling to overcome this storm.
We want you to know we’re here for you, our member-owners, now and throughout the rebuilding of our great area!
Blue Ridge Energy line technicians will be wearing a special memento from all their hard work during Hurricane Helene: a commemorative graphic designed by the daughter of Blue Ridge Energy Alleghany District warehouse specialist, David Blythe.
Cortlyn Albertson, a graphic designer at Brazzell Marketing Agency, was inspired by her love for the mountains where she grew up and her first-hand knowledge of the work by Blue Ridge crews during storms— her dad has worked at Blue Ridge since she was born.
As a warehouse specialist, Cortlyn’s dad is responsible for equipping the line crews and has consistently worked during storms and emergencies, assisting line technicians.
“I closely followed the Blue Ridge outage map and witnessed the tireless efforts of countless individuals who worked around the clock to restore power to approximately 70,000 members, ultimately bringing that number down to zero within two weeks,” Cortlyn said.
“Dad often had to leave for work even when our family was facing outages at home,” said Cortlyn. “I vividly remember
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Renée R. Walker
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one Christmas when a severe winter storm hit, allowing us just enough time to open presents before we lost power, and he had to head out. During these challenging times, our family has always rallied to support him and his crew.”
The graphic designed by Cortlyn is an extension of the appreciation she has for the Blue Ridge Energy team, her dad, and the hard work required to restore power after a major storm like Helene.
