Hundreds of Bend-area residents deal with water, power outages amid heat wave

(Update: Bend power outages could last to midnight)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – As if record or near-record heat wasn’t enough of a challenge, hundreds of Bend and Redmond residents were dealing with power and water outages on Sunday.

Several Romaine Village residents, where water service is provided by Avion Water Company, told NewsChannel 21 their water service had cut off on Sunday. Deschutes County dispatchers said they understood it related to a water line break, but efforts to reach Avion officials for details were initially unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, more than 500 Pacific Power customers were without power Sunday afternoon and evening. The utility’s outage map showed two outages on Bend’s Westside. At first, crews expected to complete the work by 9 p.m., but that was pushed back to midnight. Another outage involving a few hundred Redmond residents had ended by Sunday evening.

Pacific Power spokesman Drew Hanson said crews were assessing the situation and working to restore service. He had no specifics on the cause or whether it was heat-related, but added, “We know this is a very difficult time to lose power, for any reason, and we’re working to restore service just as soon as we can.”