Appalachian Power Storm Response Update (VIRGINIA ONLY)
Saturday, March 3, 2018 – 5 p.m.
Situation
Efforts to restore electric service continue following strong wind storms Thursday and Friday in much of Appalachian Power’s Virginia service territory.
Early assessments have confirmed much of the damage is from fallen trees, with 100 broken poles and 600 spans of wire already found. As assessments continue, we expect to find more broken poles and spans of wire down.
Weather
In Virginia, the high winds have lessened, but the area could still see gusts up to 30 MPH into this evening. Tomorrow’s weather should be clear, which will aid in power restoration efforts.
Outages
More than 39,000 customers are currently without power in Virginia, which is down from the outage peak of 75,000. Areas in the state with large numbers of customers affected by outages include:
| Counties | # of Customers Out |
| Henry | 8,247 |
| Patrick | 5,395 |
| Amherst | 5,238 |
| Franklin | 4,866 |
| Lynchburg (City) | 3,171 |
| Bedford | 2,083 |
| Albemarle | 1,619 |
The company is working to identify schools which are out of power. We will assess the line feeding these schools and, if possible, restore power so they can reopen on Monday. Restoration of schools will be on a case-by-case basis and cannot be guaranteed.
Storm Restoration Efforts
More than 1,300 workers, including local line employees, tree crews and contractors, are working to restore electric service.
As outages are cleared, crews are moving into more heavily damaged areas to assist in restoration.
Restoration Estimates
In the Roanoke, Rocky Mount, Moneta, Fieldale, Stuart, Lynchburg and Lovingston areas, restoration should be complete Monday by midnight.
However, the vast majority of customers will see their power restored sooner. Today and tomorrow, crews are completing damage assessments in these hardest hit areas. This information will help determine more specific power restoration times for each area.
In areas served by the Glen Lyn, Pulaski and Wytheville service centers, service is expected to be restored by late tonight. Restoration is expected to be complete by late Sunday night for customers in areas served by the company’s Christiansburg, Floyd and Woodlawn service centers.
Safety Message
Let us know if you’re using a generator – this protects you and our line workers as they work to restore power. Additional safety tips are posted at https://www.appalachianpower.com/outages/faq/OutageSafetyTips.aspx.
For More Information
Customers can get specific information about their outages via text message and/or email by subscribing to Appalachian Power outage alerts. To sign up, please visit www.appalachianpower.com/alerts.
A snapshot view of current outages is available at www.appalachianpower.com/outagemap.
Next Update: The next update is scheduled for Sunday, March 4 at 11 a.m.
