The Oregon Governor’s Mansion Was Without Power for a Week

Gov. Kate Brown lost power.

Downed power lines in Portland. (Jonathan Inthavong)

After an ice storm swept across Oregon over Valentine's Day weekend, the largest power outage in state history left 330,000 Oregonians without electricity.

Among them: Gov. Kate Brown.

The lights went out at the Oregon governor's mansion (and in the surrounding neighborhood) at 1:55 am on Feb. 13. Power was restored at 12:48 pm on Feb. 20, Portland General Electric said.

Brown slept elsewhere.

"The governor and first gentleman stayed at a secure location, which for safety reasons we can't disclose, while power was being restored," says spokesman Charles Boyle. "From there and the Capitol, she continued with her duties, responding to the emergency and making sure state resources were being deployed to help Oregonians who needed them."

As of Feb. 23, 13,094 customers of PGE remained without power.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.