PORTLAND, Ore. — Neighbors on Parkhill Drive and Parkhill Way in southwest Portland are frustrated, with power lines leaving them trapped when trees fell and took out their power Thursday evening.
“The tree came down, and the power lines started snapping," said Dawn Carter, who has been living in the neighborhood for 17 years. "My neighbors had a wire fall in their backyard, and it's now drooping between our two houses."
"The downed tree kept residents from being able to get in and out of the neighborhood. We had somebody fall," said Nancy Williams, another longtime resident. "They ended up in the trauma ICU at OHSU, and now, we couldn’t get an emergency vehicle through here if we needed to."
The tree blocking the neighborhood was eventually moved, but the two streets still have downed power lines throughout their lawns and backyard. Residents said the recent death of a family due to a downed power line has scared them.
"We’re just begging them to let us know which wires are live," said Carter. "We’ll take the tree down ourselves. We’ve got chainsaws and ready to help.”
PGE responded in a statement, saying they are taking appropriate actions for public safety and responded to the scene Friday night. PGE added that people should assume any downed or sagging line is live, urging people to keep 50 feet away.
PGE estimates that there are 5,708 customers are without power, with 960 reported outages, as of 2:40 p.m. Saturday. That's down from Friday evening, where there were 14,073 customers without power.
The tight-knit neighborhood said they don’t expect to be moved up on the long line of homes that still need power but do want answers. Residents said there are still two families stuck inside.