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For a day, upper Rogue shivers in white Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Jonell Wehde, center, and her children Joseph, 7, and Maryanne, 2, escape their cold, powerless home in Shady Cove on Wednesday to enjoy the comfort of grandma's house in Trail. Anne Wehde, Jonell's mother-in-law, also lost power but has a wood stove. Joseph's school was closed because there was no heat. SHADY COVE - About 4,800 people were without power here Wednesday morning as heavy snow kept Pacific Power crews scrambling to restore service. Customers in Eagle Point, Trail, Prospect and Butte Falls also were affected. Although power was restored to the majority of customers around 11 a.m., schools in Trail, Prospect and Butte Falls closed, along with businesses in those towns. About 2,000 people, mostly in Shady Cove, went without power until around 5 p.m. "Harsh weather and electricity and poles and wires don't go too well together," said Shannon Shoul, a Pacific Power spokeswoman. Reasons for the outage varied from snow on power lines to car accidents to fallen trees, she added. Eight inches of snow fell in Prospect late Tuesday and early Wednesday, according to a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Medford office. Butte Falls had 5 inches of snow. No official snowfall information was available for Shady Cove, but residents reported 3 to 4 inches on the ground. The bulk of Wednesday's precipitation in Southern Oregon fell along the coast near Brookings and inland over the southern Cascade range, with reports of up to two feet of snow in some locations. The Siskiyous were dusted with a few inches. Snow built up on power lines can cause them to clash or touch other objects, Shoul said. When that happens, the lines automatically shut down, she said. Problems with equipment at the Takelma power substation in Trail contributed to the outages, Shoul added. In addition, Pacific Power received reports of tree limbs falling onto lines, a problem Pacific Power tries to diffuse by trimming trees year-round, Shoul added. Jackson County Fire District 4 firefighters in Shady Cove had to remove fallen trees on roads and driveways Wednesday. Pacific Power first heard of outages in the area starting around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. The American Red Cross later considered but decided against opening a shelter for residents who were without heat and water drawn from wells using electric pumps. The agency didn't open a shelter because most power had been restored late in the day. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.