PORTLAND, Ore. — As of Monday afternoon, tens of thousands of people around the Portland metro area were still without electricity. That was down significantly from Sunday afternoon, when around 120,000 were without power.
Still, many struggled to deal with temperatures inside their homes just above freezing.
"I think the lowest we got in here was maybe 36," said Kegan Good, an East Portland resident.
For the past three days, Good and his wife, kids and cats have been living in a tent in their living room. For more than 50 hours, the family didn’t have power. Finally, Monday morning, electricity returned.
"It's not good when it gets to the third day," Good said.
The family had no choice but to throw mattresses and blankets into the tent, and bundle up next to each other for warmth, Good said.
"This sort of situation can get real hairy real quick," he added.
Their neighbors dealt with similar issues. John Kenney, who lives a couple houses down on Southeast 180th Avenue, said his power returned late Monday morning, too. He and his family have been staying with his parents, who never lost power.
On Sunday, his house was just 38 degrees.
“It was brutal,” Kenney said.
While power is slowly returning, tens of thousands of families continue to wait for their electricity to come back on.
Over the weekend, more than 200,000 power customers lost electricity in the metro area. By Monday afternoon, around 60,000 still didn’t have power.
PGE said crews were working around the clock to clear debris, repair power lines and restore electricity.
Despite improvements, families with their power back on are unsure how long it will last, with freezing rain expected to arrive in Portland on Tuesday.
For now, Kenney said his wife and kids will likely continue to stay with his parents. In the Good household, they plan to keep the tent up through Wednesday, in case they lose power again.
"I don't know. I think, you know, it's not going to get any better," Good said.
PGE said there could be further power outages from the weather system arriving Tuesday. However, additional crews from out-of-state will remain in Portland to work to quickly restore power after the storm passes.