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Thousands of power outages brought Pacific Power crews out in force Pacific Power crews have been battling the elements in the wake of the New Year's week snow storm. photo courtesy of Pacific Power Saturday Jan 7, 2017 at 3:09 PM Jan 7, 2017 at 3:14 PM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat Pacific Power brought in crews from two states to battle weather-related outages that affected more than 10,000 customers in Southern Oregon and Northern California this week. Local crews, aided by staff and contractors from the Portland area, Washington and Idaho, utilized equipment including helicopters and snowcats to restore power to 2,500 in Medford, 6,500 in the Grants Pass and Cave Junction areas, and 1,900 in Yreka and Mount Shasta. Most outages were caused by falling tree limbs, according to Pacific Power spokesman Ry Schwark. As of the last report issued Friday, 14 homes in the Medford area remained without power, but had likely been restored since, Schwark said.  "You guys should be in a pretty good place," he added. As of Saturday afternoon, crews are focused on restoring power in Josephine County. "There's a couple hundred folks in the Cave Junction, Selma area," Schwark said, noting that a Red Cross warming station was still set up at Cave Junction City Hall. Josephine County outages caused by downed lines in remote locations meant crews had to be dropped into the sites via helicopter, or hike to remote sites using snowshoes, Schwark said. In Northern California, a crew in Happy Valley delivered medicine to a person isolated by the closed roads. Schwark said crews drill for mass outages "all the time." Crews prioritize outage calls, first to ensure hospitals and other first-responders have power, then work on the largest outage down. "You want to bring on a hundred customers online instead of two," Schwark said. "We don't stop until everybody is restored, but we gotta put 'em in a queue." During an outage, Schwark said, homeowners should switch on their front porch lights so crews can quickly determine if neighborhood homes are back online. With forecasts of heavy rain and flood conditions in the Medford area that could cause more trees and limbs to fall and damage lines, Pacific Power crews are standing by tonight, according to Schwark. To report an outage see www.pacificpower.net or call 877-508-5088. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.