RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion
Virginia Power is restoring service
to the more than 432,000 customers that were impacted since
4 p.m. Saturday by Hurricane Matthew,
the majority being in southeastern Virginia and North Carolina. As of 1
p.m. Sunday, 280,000 remain out.
The storm tracked further north than predicted, combining with
another weather system that turned it into an extra tropical
event, pushing high winds beyond the eye of the storm. The near
historic rainfall contributed to the already saturated grounds
which combined with the strong winds that toppled trees and downed
power lines in our central and eastern regions.
In the aftermath, there are many locations with broken poles and
cross arms and wire down. Our crews are out in force, but they have
been limited in their ability to get to repair locations due to
flooded roads. Flooding is expected to recede as the day progresses
and access improves.
In anticipation of the storm, our eastern Virginia and
North Carolina local offices were
fully staffed Saturday night with all crews and contractors coming
in at 6 a.m. this morning. Additional
crews from unaffected areas were mobilized overnight and are
engaged in the restoration efforts.
Our focus today is on critical services, such as 911 centers,
water pumping stations and hospitals. Every available tree or
line crews from unaffected areas are on the way to assist at this
time. In addition, we are working with our peer utilities for
mutual aid assistance to speed the restoration process.
As conditions improve we will deploy the necessary
resources to provide damage assessments, with more help on the way,
however it will be a few days before all of the power can be
restored. We appreciate our customers' patience as we work to
safely gain access and make repairs.
We cannot emphasize enough to stay away from downed wires and
trees making contact with wires. Stay at least 30 feet away
and report downed wires to 1.866.366.4357. Call Dominion right away
at 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) to speak with an
agent to report the downed wire. Please be patient if the wait time
is longer than usual – it is very important for Dominion to know a
wire is down.
Be sure to report your outage right away to help us with an
efficient restoration. The quickest and easiest way is to report it
on dom.com using your mobile device. You can also call us at
866-DOM-HELP.
Dominion Virginia Power is a
subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the nation's largest
producers and transporters of energy. Dominion serves more than 6
million utility and retail energy customers. It has a portfolio of
approximately 25,700 megawatts of generation, 14,400 miles of
natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,500
miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion also operates one of
the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 1
trillion cubic feet of storage capacity. For more information about
Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.
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SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power