KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA | Lower Valley families freeze and businesses lose money during power outage

Lower Valley families freeze and businesses lose money during power outage

GRANGER, Wash.- Families in Sunnyside, Outlook and Granger lost power throughout Monday night and Tuesday morning. Home and business owners faced many challenges.

The Olvera family is staying warm. They are luckier than others in Granger, they have a fireplace, and it's that heat that got them through the freezing temperatures.

"It's a big deal when you don't expect it to happen," said Maria Olvera, a homeowner.

Olvera says the lights first went out Monday night after 6 p.m.

"We were just going to sit down to eat dinner, we pulled out all my candle so we could sit down to eat," said Olvera.

The power came back and went on and off until late Monday morning. Keeping everyone alert and looking for heat.

"It was cold last night, we closed the doors to all the rooms and stayed in the living room to stay warm," said Olvera.  

While families were dealing with the power outage, so were businesses like Chandler's Granger Place. The store had to close early Monday and could only help customers paying with cash.  

"You lose a days profits I mean, plus your paying wages so ya it's a loss for the day," said Mike Chandler, the owner.  

Chandler brought a small generator but it wasn't enough for the whole store. Some customers paid with cash and those with credit cards were turned away.

Chandler says the power outage hurt his store and gas pumps and it's not the first time.

"For some reason here more than my other stores we seem to be down quite a bit," said Chandler.

"It's frustrating because I had my grandkids spending the night and it was cold," said Olvera.

Chandler's Granger Place is up and running and electricity has been restored to homes in the area.