Appalachian Power Storm Response Update #14
Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 – 9 a.m.
Situation
Appalachian Power continues to bring outside personnel to its service territory to add to the workforce of over 4,000 currently working to restore power following Hurricane Helene’s rainbands on Friday. Hundreds of line and forestry crews are arriving today from as far as Wisconsin to work in the hardest-hit areas of Bluefield; Damascus; Grundy; Fries; Independence; Lebanon; Sugar Grove; Tazewell and Whitetop, Va. As of 9 a.m. Monday, 117,500 customers remain without electric service.
Outages & Damages
- As crews work to restore power, assessment crews continue to evaluate damage while navigating hundreds of downed trees. Assessing damage following a storm is critical to prioritizing the public's and employees' safety by first identifying hazards, including downed trees, broken electrical equipment and fallen wire.
- Assessment teams have found over 1,800 spans of fallen wire and damaged equipment, including 415 poles, 270 crossarms and 105 transformers.
- Workers have restored power to nearly 60%, or 165,000, of customers since the peak of 282,000 on Friday.
- About 83,650 of the remaining affected customers are in Virginia. Over 29,800 customers are without service in West Virginia, and about 4,050 are in Tennessee.
Storm Response Efforts
- Appalachian Power planned for outages from this storm by having all employees and business partners on alert and prepared to work.
- Appalachian Power crews began restoring power to several critical customers in its service territory as soon as it was safe.
- Over 3,500 employees and contractors remain dedicated to storm restoration work, including mutual assistance crews from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas.
- As power is restored in Southern West Virginia, workers are moving to join those already working in Southern Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
Restoration Estimates
- Monday, Sept. 30, 11 p.m. for most customers in West Virginia. The hardest-hit areas will see restoration go into Tuesday, Oct. 1.
- Monday, Sept. 30, 11 p.m. for the areas of Christiansburg, Fieldale, Stuart, Pulaski and Rocky Mount, Va.
- Tuesday, Oct. 1, 4 p.m. for the Roanoke, Va., area.
- Tuesday, Oct. 1, 8 p.m. for Beckley, Hico, Pineville and Welch, W.Va.
- Tuesday, Oct. 1, 11 p.m. for Kingsport, Tenn., and the areas of Bluefield, Glade Spring, Glen Lyn, Grundy, Floyd, Lebanon, Tazewell, Woodlawn and Wytheville, Va.
- Most customers without service will have power restored before the above estimates.
- Customers are encouraged to view the company's outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage.
- Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed.
Weather
Despite light showers forecast through Tuesday, weather will be favorable for restoring electric service. Downed trees and flooded areas may impact restoration efforts. Crews will continue to work as safely and quickly as possible.
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 if 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.
When to Call an Electrician
- Appalachian Power cannot connect power to a home or business if there is damage to the service entrance, which the customer owns.
- Customers need a qualified electrician to repair this damage before power can be restored. The service entrance includes the metal box housing Appalachian Power's meter, the "weatherhead" pipe on top of the meter box, the service entrance cables running from the weatherhead through the meter box to the inside panel box, and other related facilities. Similar responsibilities apply to "underground" service.
- After repairs are made, contact Appalachian Power to have power restored.
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: Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, 1 p.m.