It’s been one year since a devastating ice storm hit Oregon, leaving tens of thousands of people in Lane County without power. The Springfield Utility Board (SUB) and the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) are now taking steps to prepare for similar disasters in the future. Jeff Nelson, SUB General Manager, received updates from the National Weather Service in the days leading up to the storm.
“The forecasts were evolving over time,” Nelson said. “There was no certainty about what the event could be, but what we were told was that the majority of the event would happen to the north and west of Springfield.”
However, when the freezing rain started on January 13, a thick layer of ice covered much of Lane County. Eugene Springfield Fire saw a spike in injuries and hospitalizations.
Battalion Chief Markus Lay reported that on the worst day, emergency workers responded to more than twice as many calls as normal. “There were public service announcements saying ‘if you don’t need to go outside your house, don’t do it. It is super slippery.
You’re going to slip and fall,'” said Lay. The storm toppled more than 20,000 trees in Springfield alone and damaged power lines. Throughout the event, 75% of SUB customers lost power at some point, while outages in EWEB’s service area peaked at about a fourth of customers simultaneously.
EWEB spokesperson Robyn Smith noted that the McKenzie Valley was particularly challenging for repair crews. “Fallen trees were blocking roads,” said Smith.
Preparing utilities for future ice storms
“Power poles were toppled over from the weight of the ice. Wires were snagged and snapped from the strain of that additional weight.”
In Springfield, SUB’s call center was overwhelmed. An after-action report highlighted that the outages also affected the utility’s data collection systems.
“We did have to go to certain facilities and visit those to track what was happening and monitor those in person,” Nelson said. Water pressure in SUB’s distribution system dropped dangerously low after the loss of power at the Willamette Wellfield. SUB issued a boil water notice on January 17, affecting 45,000 houses.
The report noted that some staff were not immediately informed about the notice, leading to communication issues with the public. It took more than two weeks from the start of the ice storm before SUB completed initial power restorations. Public meetings that followed featured criticism from customers regarding the utility’s handling of the crisis and communication.
Since the storm, SUB has conducted incident command training with staff and expanded its text alert program. The City of Springfield is also pursuing a license for a new emergency radio station. SUB aims to build backup generators at three of its facilities.
The utility applied for a FEMA grant for these projects in 2022. EWEB has also taken steps to improve its response, partnering with McKenzie Fire and Rescue to provide in-person power updates for rural areas. The lessons learned from the 2024 ice storm have reshaped how local utilities prepare for and respond to such emergencies, aiming to ensure greater resilience and better communication in the future.
