Dominion Working to Repair Storm Damage in Northern Virginia

[Guest Luke]

 

Dominion Virginia Power crews have restored more than 215,000 customers throughout its service territory since 3 p.m. yesterday. Crews are working to restore additional customers throughout Northern Virginia, Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley. Outages were caused by high winds, lightning, heavy rain and unconfirmed tornados. As of 10:30 a.m., approximately 116,000 customers were without power.

 

Line crews and support personnel continue to assess damage and restore service. Additional crews from Dominion's central and eastern regions and off-system line contractors are augmenting local teams.

 

Dominion anticipates a significant restoration effort will be required. Estimated restoration times will be updated as the damage assessment continues.

 

The fast-moving storm swept through Northern Virginia about 3 p.m. Wednesday, causing widespread damage and impacting service to approximately 335,000 customers. The strong winds brought numerous trees and tree limbs down into power lines.

 

Localities with the most significant damage include Fairfax County, Arlington County, Loudoun County, Fredericksburg and Albermarle County. Dominion has activated its storm response centers and all local offices in Northern Virginia and Richmond to coordinate the restoration effort.

 

Dominion cautions customers to stay away from downed power lines, which could still be energized, and to report power outages by calling toll-free 1-888-667-3000.

 

* Outages: To report or inquire about power outages or to report downed power lines, call Customer Service, 1-888-667-3000.

 

* View our outage map and outage summary to see how outages are currently affecting customers.

 

* Weather Data: Refer to your local forecast for the latest advisories.

 

When outages occur, Dominion crews are assigned to work first on outages affecting emergency facilities and critical infrastructure as well as locations that can return service to the largest number of customers. (Learn more about restoration.) Dominion reminds customers who encounter downed power lines to stay away from them and consider them extremely dangerous.

 

First Responder Safety Tips

 

Storms sometimes can be the culprit behind automobile accidents that bring down energized power lines. First responders may encounter such hazards when they arrive on the scene of an emergency.

 

 

http://www.dom.com/news/outage_map.jsp