Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation employees were on high alert Monday morning and prepared to respond should severe winter weather lead to power outages.

Forecasts varied for the region, anticipating anywhere from a few inches to nearly a foot in some higher elevations between early Monday and late Tuesday. Roads were getting slippery in West Jefferson Monday morning and schools are closed.

The fastest way to report an outage is by calling the cooperative’s PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383.

Handy tools for members to keep informed include the cooperative’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blueridgeemc and the cooperative’s online outage map which can be linked to from the lower right-hand corner of www.BlueRidgeEMC.com.

Safety and preparedness tips are also available at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com.

Blue Ridge Electric serves some 73,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Wilkes, Alexander and Avery counties.