Winds topple tree, knock out power to 1,000 in Sisters area

(Update: Adding video, Hardtails owner comments)

Central Electric Cooperative repair crews were busy in the Sisters-Camp Sherman area Sunday, dealing with wind-caused outages and downed lines affecting more than 1,000 customers after a night and morning in which winds gusted to 63 mph.

More than 100 CEC members lost service in the Camp Sherman area around 9 p.m. Saturday after reports of a downed line near Lake Creek Lodge, the cooperative reported on its outage update page — and it was still out Sunday evening, according to their outage map.

Shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, more than 1,000 CEC members in Sisters and areas to the east lost power after a line came down on Larch Street. That service was restored, but crews kept busy all night dealing with outages caused by winds and downed trees or limbs.

Sisters resident Darcy Macey said the first part of a tree fell around 2:30 a.m. in an alley near the corner of Larch Street and Cascade Avenue, between Hardtails Bar & Grill and Chops Bistro, taking down lines and a pole’s cross-members.

She said they were out talking with a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy shortly before 3 a.m. when the second half of the tree toppled.

“We heard the crack and we ran onto the porch, and sparks were flying all around the bar — and then everything went black,” said Hardtails owner Steve Macey. “The tree took down the power lines on Larch Street, ripped out some of the lines on the corner on Cascade Avenue — yeah, it was a mess.”

Co-op spokesman Jeff Beaman said the downed tree took out the main feeder line from the Sisters substation.

“These wind currents coming over the mountains, it’s like a river with rocks in it,” he said. “You can have these localized winds in the mountains” that play havoc with trees and power lines.

Beaman said late Sunday crews were still working to restore service to 127 members in the Camp Sherman area.