Situation
Appalachian Power (APCo) crews and contractors are continuing to safely and quickly restore power after severe weather early Friday. At the peak of the storm around 2 a.m. Friday, approximately 52,000 customers were without power. Crews restored service to about 50,000 customers over the next 24 hours, but strong, ongoing winds on Friday caused new outages, leaving approximately 9,600 customers without power this morning.
Outages
As of 10 a.m., about 1,000 APCo customers in Virginia and 8,600 in West Virginia are without electric service. Approximately 2,000 field personnel are removing tree hazards, replacing broken poles and installing new power lines; fewer than 500 locations with damage remain.
Restoration Estimates
APCo’s Storm Response team expects to restore power to 95% of impacted customers by 11 p.m. tonight, Dec. 20. In some areas of West Virginia, repairs are complex and require multiple crews and specialized equipment, which may extend restoration times.
A snapshot view of current outages by Zip Code and County level is available at AppalachianPower.com/OutageMap.
Storm Response Efforts
- Company line employees and contractors are working in their own areas or traveling to damaged areas to assist with repairs.
- Mutual assistance crews from surrounding states are supporting restoration efforts.
Weather
- Weather today is favorable for power restoration work.
Safety Messages
- All downed lines are dangerous — they carry an electric current that can cause serious or even fatal injuries. Stay away to stay alive. If you encounter a fallen wire, keep yourself and others away from it and anything it may be touching, and call 911 and APCo at 1-800-956-4237 immediately.
- If you use a portable or RV generator, do not plug it into your circuit breaker box.
- Additional safety tips are posted at AppalachianPower.com/Safety.
For More Information
Customers can get specific information about the outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email by subscribing to APCo's Outage Alerts. To sign up, visit AppalachianPower.com/Alerts.
A snapshot view of current outages is available anytime at AppalachianPower.com/OutageMap.
Next Update: Saturday, Dec. 20, 4 p.m.