Oregon Public Broadcasting

The city of Vernonia, no stranger to winter weather, is toughing out some of the worst of the winter storm. April Baer reports that some 1500 households are still without power.

Vernonia gets its power from a co-op called West Oregon Electric. The co-op's Darlene McLeod  says recent snows have been the heaviest in years.

Darlene McLeod:  "We're doing our best to get folks back on, unfortunately, we get lines up and they go down right behind us. So we're just asking folks to be as patient as possible."

Right now, the co-op is fighting a losing battle. Last week, when power lines started failing, crews came from other utilities to help, but now, with widespread outages all over the region, West Oregon Electric's linemen are on their own.

The Vernonia Police Department has maintained an emergency shelter at Vernonia Christian Church. It's expected that shelter will remain open Monday night.