March 2021 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER 11
Charbonneau ’ s power returns after ice storm blackout
The entire planned community in Wilsonville had gone about three days without power
By COREY BUCHANAN PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP
After going roughly three days without power , the Charbonneau community ’ s lights turned back on around 8 p . m . Monday , Feb . 15 .
The community , which has over 1,600 living units , lost power Saturday , Feb . 13 during the winter storm that caused trees and limbs to fall and damaged Portland General Electric infrastructure across the Portland metro area .
“ I want to again extend a big thank you to all the residents and volunteers that helped each other during this crisis . This community is amazing . And another big thanks to the City of Wilsonville for their continued work and support of Charbonneau ,” Charbonneau Country Club General Manager Jim Meierotto said in a message to the community .
CHARBONNEAU CAPTAINS MAKE SURE COMMUNITY IS ACCOUNTED FOR
In the 20 years since he bought his generator while living in Eugene , Dee Andrews had never used it .
That changed when the winter storm wiped out power in the entire Charbonneau community and other parts of Wilsonville .
“ I always mumbled to myself , ‘ I wonder why I had bought it .’ It sure paid off Friday night ,” he said .
During the three days
The Charbonneau community went without power for about three days during the recent snowstorm .
without power , the Charbonneau resident helped charge his neighbors ’ cell phones using the generator , went to check on them periodically , and helped them set up their natural gas . He also brought them matches so they could make hot food .
“ Everyone had cell phones and no way to charge them . I had a group of charging systems I set up at the house . Anybody who needs to get cell phones charged ( could ) come to my house and lug them in ,” he said .
Not to mention , Andrews made sure nearby community members called one another twice a day to check in . He also informed people to stay away from trees to avoid ice falling on top of them .
One challenging aspect of the outage for Andrews was keeping up on the news . His newspaper didn ’ t come and he couldn ’ t watch local news on the television . However , he and other Charbonneau captains had emergency radios to keep in touch . Andrews said seeing what happens when you don ’ t have access to the myriad aspects of life charged by electricity was “ amazing .”
“ We didn ’ t know how bad it was around us . We had to go by word of mouth who had what and what was going on ,” Andrews said .
Andrews ’ main takeaway from the event was the safety he feels in Charbonneau and how prepared the community is due to the emergency preparedness planning and drills they undergo .
“ I was pretty impressed how the whole thing was handled ,” he said .
CITY , LEOS STEP IN TO HELP
Like residents of Charbonneau , Greg Leo , who is a lobbyist for the Wilsonville government , and his wife , Rachel , did not have electricity at their home in Butteville all weekend due to the storm .
Concerned about the largely elderly community ’ s ability to weather the storm , they volunteered to help . The Leos
COURTESY PHOTO
knocked on the doors of many Charbonneau resident ’ s homes to make sure they were OK and to see whether they needed anything , and then delivered dozens of meals from fast food restaurants like Cafe Yum and Jersey Mike ’ s as well as phone chargers to the community .
The Leos visited homes based on a short list provided by the Charbonneau emergency preparedness team , and the items were paid for by the Wilsonville government .
Greg Leo said most people were doing fine but were cold and hadn ’ t had a warm meal in awhile .
“ You ’ re just checking in on people to see how you ’ re doing . People were bored out of their minds because electricity didn ’ t work . Secondly , a lot of them were lonely . They just wanted to know someone cared about them ,” Leo said .
CHARBONNEAU ELDERLY COUPLE ASSISTED
Unable to reach her parents for many hours at the beginning of the snowstorm , Hood River resident Heather Garrett was growing increasingly concerned .
Jeanie and Lee Anderson live by themselves in Charbonneau and are in their mid-80s , and Lee uses a walker and has had bad falls in the past . Without access to a working phone , they might not have been able to call 911 if an emergency were to arise .
“ I went into panic mode . I couldn ’ t get a hold of any place around there that would be open to check on them ,” she said .
Jeanie said the temperature in the house was around 50 degrees and essentially they stayed under the covers in bed all day . Luckily , she had made meatloaf before the storm so they had something to eat despite not having the ability to cook .
After Garrett contacted the Charbonneau Country Club homeowners association , she got a call from a member of Charbonneau ’ s emergency response team , who then checked on the Andersons and dropped off batteries for their cell phone and candles to their house .
Later , the Andersons also received a free meal .
Garrett finally was able to contact her parents and her fears subsided . Both Garrett and Jeanie expressed gratitude for the Charbonneau community .
“ We were very grateful for them to come by and take care of our needs . Our granddaughter came by with goodies . I felt very secure and loved ,” Jeanie said .
This story was originally published in the Wilsonville
Spokesman .