Situation
Appalachian Power Company (APCo) crews continue working to restore electric service after another round of severe storms moved through the company's service territory over the weekend, leaving a peak of about 25,000 customers without power on Sunday.
Crews are assessing damage, making repairs and restoring service as weather and road conditions allow. Flooding remains a challenge in some areas, making it difficult for crews to access damaged equipment and prolonging restoration efforts. In addition, saturated ground conditions continue to contribute to falling trees and limbs, creating new outages and hazards for restoration crews.
Weather Conditions
Additional storms are possible later tonight, which could result in new outages and further impact restoration efforts. APCo continues to restore service, but flooding, hazardous road conditions and the potential for additional storm damage could extend restoration into Tuesday in the hardest-hit areas.
Outages
As of about 6 p.m. Monday, 17,700 customers are without power following the storms, with about 8,800 of those outages in APCo's West Virginia territory, approximately 4,600 in Virginia and about 4,300 in Tennessee.
The hardest-hit areas in West Virginia include Charleston, Glasgow, Hico, Madison, Logan and Walgrove, and in Virginia, Glade Spring, Pulaski and Gate City. Kingsport, Tennessee, experienced severe weather late afternoon Monday.
Crews from APCo and neighboring utilities as far away as Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma are assessing damage and working around the clock to restore power to customers.
Restoration Estimates
The estimated restoration time for the majority of customers in West Virginia and Virginia is Monday, Aug. 17, at 11 p.m.; however, most customers are expected to have power restored before that time as crews continue working safely throughout the evening.
APCo’s Storm Response Team is assessing damage in Tennessee; customers are encouraged to enroll in Outage Alerts for real-time notifications.
As outages are assessed, customers can refer to AppalachianPower.com/OutageMap to view real-time outage updates and estimated times of restoration.
Safety
Stay away from downed power lines and anything they may contact, such as tree limbs or fences. Immediately report safety hazards by calling 911 or APCo at 1-800-956-4237.
Additional safety tips are available at AppalachianPower.com/Safety.
For More Information
If a customer experiences a power outage, APCo’s Storm Response Team encourages them to report it at AppalachianPower.com/Outages.
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.
Next Update: Tuesday, Aug. 18, 10 a.m.