APPALACHIAN POWER STORM RESPONSE #1
Thursday, June 18, 11:45 a.m.
Situation
Severe storms with high wind gusts began moving through Appalachian Power Company’s (APCo’s) West Virginia service territory Thursday morning, resulting in about 14,700 outages as of 11:45 a.m. From a restoration standpoint, APCo has restored service to more than 6,400 customers since 6 a.m.
Strong winds and hazardous weather conditions are expected to continue throughout the day as the system pushes east into APCo’s Virginia and Tennessee service areas. Wind gusts of 40–50 mph are likely, with isolated peaks up to 60 mph possible in higher elevations.
APCo’s Storm Response Team is closely monitoring weather conditions and remains committed to restoring power to affected customers as safely and quickly as possible.
Weather Conditions
Ongoing high winds and heavy rain across APCo’s service territory will create difficult and challenging conditions for crews throughout Thursday. Wind speeds exceeding 30 mph create unsafe conditions for elevated bucket truck operations, which may delay power restoration in certain areas.
Outages
Outages are expected to rise throughout Thursday as storms continue to impact parts of the electric grid across the Appalachian region. Currently:
- About 12,400 customers are without electric service in West Virginia. The counties with the most outages include Jackson (1,120); Logan (1,250); Mason (2,630); Mercer (1,600); Mingo (1,900); Raleigh (2,275); and Wyoming (1,100).
- About 1,700 customers are without electric service in Tennessee and Virginia.
Storm Response Efforts
APCo proactively prepared for potential outages by placing all employees and business partners on alert and ready to respond. To support restoration efforts, additional personnel from surrounding states are travelling to APCo’s service territory to assist local crews, with safety as a top priority. Damage assessments are underway, and crews are restoring power where conditions allow.
Restoration Estimates
As damage assessments continue, real-time outage updates and estimated times of restoration (ETR) are available at AppalachianPower.com/OutageMap.
Safety Message
High winds can cause damage that downs power lines and other electrical equipment. 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 lines and anything the lines may touch. Additional safety tips are available at AppalachianPower.com/Safety.
For More Information
APCo will notify customers with information about the outages affecting their account(s) via text message and/or email with Outage Alerts. Customers can verify their enrollment and contact information at AppalachianPower.com/Alerts.
A snapshot view of current outages is available anytime by visiting APCo’s Outage Map at AppalachianPower.com/OutageMap.
Next Update: Thursday, June 18, 5 p.m.