A storm overnight into Wednesday morning caused trees and powerlines to fall throughout Keizer.
Anne-Marie Storms, Keizer Fire District deputy fire marshal, said Keizer crews responded to 14 storm-related incidents across Salem and Keizer overnight in coordination with Keizer Public Works and the Keizer Police Department.
One of those calls involved a fir tree that fell on Northeast McLeod Lane south of Manzanita Street, taking down multiple powerlines as well. Bystanders told Keizertimes that the tree fell around 1:30 a.m.
Bill Lawyer, director of the city Public Works Department, said in an email that the city is waiting for Portland General Electric to address the downed lines before it can remove the tree. Lawyer also reported that North Hollyhock Place was blocked by fallen tree limbs overnight, but the street has since been cleared by city staff.
Storms said another call involved a tree that fell on a house on North Waterford Way, near Keizer Elementary School. A third involved smoke drifting into a house along North Marino Drive as a result of a blown transformer located on a Salem Electric power pole behind the home.
Along with downed trees and powerlines, Storms said calls included carbon monoxide alarms that sounded after losing power. Calls of fallen wires and trees came primarily between 1 a.m. and 2:15 a.m.
All of Salem Electric’s customers in Keizer lost power around 1 a.m., according to the company’s Member Services Manager Jacob Knudsen. He estimated power was restored to nearly all of them just after 3 a.m., and with the remaining customers receiving power in the following hours.
At the outage’s peak, about half of Salem Electric’s total customers were out of power. According to the company’s website, power was restored to all of its customers by 9:50 a.m.
The Salem-Keizer School District delayed school start times and canceled school for Clear Lake Elementary School and Whiteaker Middle School on Wednesday due to lack of power.
Lt. Trevor Wenning of the Keizer Police Department said in an email that the damage from last night is “nothing out of the ordinary for this type of weather event.”
He wrote there was debris from trees and shrubbery around town, as well as trash cans and Christmas decorations that have been knocked over.
“Motorists will need to use caution as they navigate neighborhoods but otherwise main arterials are unaffected,” Wenning wrote in the email.
NEWS TIP? Contact reporter Krista Kroiss by email at [email protected]
SUBSCRIBE: Get around-the-clock access to news about Keizer with a digital subscription to the Keizertimes. It’s secure, is available at $10 a month, and takes just a moment when you go HERE. Your support for local journalism is vital.
