On Aug. 12 we had a power outage in our development. It’s a private development with narrow gravel roads with underground wiring.
To find the source of power failure the PUD used those monstrous trucks to run at excessive speeds up and down roads into driveways, unmindful of our speed limits and without regard for pets that frequent the roads. Fortunately, they forced no cars off the road and did not run over any of our pets.
What they did do, however, is race down our narrow driveway ignoring the fruit trees that they clipped. In an attempt to back out of our driveway, they backed over our standing water faucet (it’s 4 feet out of ground with 100 feet of hose, so it’s visible). The faucet was attached to our main line, so we were left without water at 5 p.m. on a Sunday.
The driver expressed no regret, scribbled a number on a scrap of paper and raced off down our narrow driveway, leaving us to deal with the problem.
By using the emergency number of PUD, we were able to get someone from the water department to make temporary repairs to the mainline.
The break in the line left me with several tasks because of the dirt that got into the lines. Faucet and toilet problems had to be fixed. In addition, we felt it necessary to dig at the break to expose the line, otherwise we would have been up until midnight to finish the temporary repairs.
I appreciate that maintaining power to the PUD customer is a tough job and I respect the men who do that job, but in this instance their behavior was totally without merit. It was arrogant, irresponsible and reckless at best.
Someone at PUD should be held to account. As for me, I am outraged!
Stanwood
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