From Appalachian Power at 7 p.m. Wednesday: More than 90 percent of customers affected by the March 24-25 snow storm have had power restored. However, there are still more than 500 locations in Virginia where damage must be repaired before all customers have power restored. Most of the remaining outages are in Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and Wythe counties.
More than 1,700 workers remain dedicated to the restoration effort and are now concentrating on the areas that sustained the most damage. Each of these repairs requires a significant amount of physical work, but fewer people are restored when each job is completed.
The forecast calls for sunny weather tomorrow and then rain tomorrow night, which could be heavy at times and may hamper restoration efforts.
Outages
About 8,200 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 | 681 |
| Giles | 994 |
| Montgomery | 1,845 |
| Pulaski | 3,123 |
| Wythe | 1,524 |
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.
Areas in Virginia with estimated restoration dates/times are:
Tonight by midnight
Carroll County
Floyd County
Thursday by midnight
Bland County
Giles County
Montgomery County
Pulaski County
Wythe County
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
Customers should treat all downed lines as live power lines and stay away from them. Never touch downed power lines or sparking equipment. 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.
Next Update: The next update is scheduled for Thursday, March 29 at noon.
