Situation
Hurricane Helene's intense winds and driving rains shoved trees, utility poles and wires to the ground, leaving over a quarter of Appalachian Power's 1 million customers across Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia without electric service. At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, approximately 237,000 customers remain without power.
Outages & Damages
- About 155,000 of the affected customers are in Virginia. More than 65,600 customers are without service in West Virginia, and about 15,400 are in Tennessee.
- Crews are continuing to assess damage in areas where it can be done safely. Damage was widespread, with more than 2,200 outage cases reported in all three states.
- In total, approximately 282,000 customers were without power at the peak on Friday, including 21,200 in Northeast Tennessee, 175,800 in Virginia and 85,000 in West Virginia.
Storm Response Efforts
- More than 2,500 employees and contractors are dedicated to storm restoration work, with 1,000 additional personnel arriving in the next 24-48 hours.
- Mutual assistance crews from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas are working alongside our company crews and contractors.
- Appalachian Power planned for outages from this storm by having all employees and business partners on alert and prepared to work.
- Most customers will be restored by Sunday evening. Restoration will continue into early next week in the hardest hit areas.
Weather
Weather is favorable for restoration on Saturday, although flooded areas and downed trees may impact restoration efforts. Our crews will continue to work as safely and quickly as possible.
Hydro Facilities
Heavy rains have impacted our hydroelectric facilities in Virginia. Appalachian Power proactively initiated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Byllesby/Buck Hydro Electric Facility on the New River in Carroll County. The plan was activated for a Potential Failure due to lack of visibility of our facility as water flows continue to rise. As part of the EAP, we notified local emergency agencies and personnel.
AEP continues monitoring the hydro facilities and the rivers as they begin trending down, but it will take several days before they return to normal levels. Currently, we are at normal operating levels at our Claytor and Smith Mountain Hydro Electric facilities and will continue to operate as such. For updated information on the levels at our hydro facilities, visit our hydro flow website.
Safety Message
- High winds bring down power lines. Customers should treat all downed lines as live power lines and stay away from them. Never touch downed power lines or sparking equipment. Keep children and pets away from fallen wires and anything the lines may touch and immediately call 911 and Appalachian Power at 1-800-956-4237.
- Customers without power who are on life support systems or need uninterrupted electric service for health reasons should make alternate arrangements.
- Do not plug a generator into your circuit box using a portable or RV generator.
- Flooding occurred in many areas throughout our service territory. Be cautious, and remember to turn around; don't drown.
- Find additional safety tips at AppalachianPower.com/Safety.
For More Information
Customers can subscribe to Appalachian Power outage alerts to receive specific information about outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email. To sign up, please visit Appalachian Power alerts.
A snapshot of current outages is available anytime by visiting Appalachian Power's Outage Map.
Next Update: Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, 1 p.m.