Appalachian Power Storm Response Update
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 – 10:45 a.m.
Situation
Restoration efforts continue as Appalachian Power crews work to get electric service returned to customers affected by Saturday’s winter storm.
More than 1,700 workers are on the ground in southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia. Good progress was made Monday and Tuesday to restore electric service, but there are still a large number of outages in the worst hit areas where fallen trees have caused broken power poles and downed lines.
Overall, more than two-thirds of the customers who lost power in the storm have been restored. At its peak, more than 90,000 customers were without power.
Restoration work is winding down in West Virginia where all customers should be restored by midnight tonight.
The forecast for the rest of the week calls for rain, which could be heavy at times and may hamper restoration efforts.
Outages
About 17,000 customers are currently without power, mostly in Virginia.
Areas of Virginia with large numbers of customers affected by the storms include:
Counties | # of Customers Out |
Bland | 1,195 |
Floyd | 447 |
Giles | 1,455 |
Montgomery | 4,145 |
Pulaski | 4,631 |
Wythe | 3,078 |
In West Virginia, power should be restored to all 459 customers by midnight tonight. A majority of these outages are in Mercer (194), McDowell (72) and Wyoming (60) counties.
Storm Restoration Efforts
More than 1,700 workers, including line employees, tree crews and contractors, are working to restore electric service. As weather permits, crews are still using helicopters to assess storm damage.
Service has been restored to all stations and main lines, but there are still some outages that affect large numbers of customers, plus several hundred additional smaller outages. When outages are cleared, crews are moving into more heavily damaged areas to assist in restoration.
Service restoration is handled by priority meaning, essential public safety facilities are repaired first followed by trouble areas affecting the most customers. From there, small clusters of customers are repaired and then individual homes and businesses.
Power lines do not necessarily follow along roads to neighborhoods. Houses on the same street or road may be served by different lines. Customers whose service is still out, but whose neighbors now have power, should re-report their outage.
Restoration Estimates
Most customers are expected to be restored according to the estimated times below. In isolated instances where damage is most severe, restoration could extend beyond these estimated times.
In Virginia, 95 percent of restoration should be complete in ALL areas by Thursday at midnight. However, scattered outages could remain in some of these areas, which will not be restored fully until Friday.
Areas in Virginia with estimated restoration dates/times are:
Today by midnight
Carroll County
Floyd County
Thursday by midnight
Bland County
Giles County
Montgomery County
Pulaski County
Wythe County
In West Virginia, power should be restored to ALL customers by midnight tonight.
Appalachian Power will post updated restoration estimates for customers who may remain out until Friday. Customers should check the company’s outage map or sign up for mobile alerts to see those updated estimates.
Safety Message
Stay away from all downed lines or sparking equipment, and keep children and pets away from fallen lines and anything the lines may touch. Additional safety tips are posted at https://www.appalachianpower.com/outages/faq/OutageSafetyTips.aspx.
For More Information
Customers who do not have power may check for updated restoration times and other information by:
- Going to the outage map atwww.AppalachianPower.com/outagemap
- Downloading the AEP mobile app in Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.
- Signing up for outage alerts atwww.appalachianpower.com/account/alerts/
- Calling the Appalachian Power customer center at 1-800-956-4237
A snapshot view of current outages is available at www.appalachianpower.com/outagemap.