Smith River residents woke up in the dark early this morning due to a power outage that started at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Power is expected to be restored at about 10 a.m., according to Pacific Power spokesman Tom Gaunt at about 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The culprit was a downed tree on power line at U.S. 101 and Rossellini Road that affected about 9,930 customers in parts of Crescent City, Fort Dick, Northcrest Drive and Smith River, Gaunt told the Wild Rivers Outpost. It took about an hour for crews to re-route electricity to undamaged lines, according to Gaunt.
At about 12:35 a.m. all but about 1,063 customers had electricity, Gaunt said.

“It was kind of a slog,” he told the Outpost. “We worked through the night, had crews and flaggers out and at about 5 a.m. got to making repairs.”

Meanwhile, interior Del Norte County is now under a red flag warning, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters are predicting ridge top winds gusting from 20-30 mph that are expected to subside Wednesday afternoon. People are asked to obey burn bans, avoid pulling off into grassy areas, discard cigarette butts properly and avoid the use of sparks or flames.

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