November 19, 2020 9:50 a.m.

A dead tree falling into a power pole is blamed for a power outage that left nearly 3,400 members of Douglas Electric Cooperative without power starting Wednesday evening.

Todd Munsey of the utility said transmission was lost to the Yoncalla, Oakland, and Fair Oaks substations at about 10:00 p.m. Munsey said crews were dispatched immediately but had a large area to cover as they were looking for a “needle in the haystack”.

The tree was eventually located and power was restored at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.  Munsey said the tree fell from outside of Douglas Electric right-of-way.