Power restoration efforts continue after powerful storm

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - SATURDAY 6:15 PM UPDATE FROM AEP:

Situation

Workers have restored service to 83,000 customers who lost power when strong thunderstorms hit the company’s three-state service territory late yesterday afternoon. The restoration effort to get power back on to the remaining 47,000 customers includes more than 2,300 company employees and contract workers. Outages peaked at 130,000 around 5 p.m. yesterday when winds gusting up to 65 miles-per-hour, coupled with heavy rain and lightning, resulted in damaged power lines and other equipment.

Outages

Damage is widespread with outages in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. There are roughly 2,500 locations where repairs are needed to restore electric service.

Storm Response Efforts

Nearly 2,400 company and contract workers are dedicated to getting the power restored for customers, and they have made substantial progress over the past 24 hours. Nearly all of the workers dedicated to this latest effort had just completed restoration from storms earlier in the week, and were staged at various locations yesterday in anticipation of this latest weather event.

Workers from Appalachian Power’s sister companies, Indiana Michigan and Public Service Company of Oklahoma, are among those assisting local crews.

Restoration Estimates

Workers began assessing damage and making repairs yesterday evening, and this work is ongoing. Restoration times will be made available for customers this evening.

For information on specific outages, visit Appalachian Power’s Outage Map.

Weather

Today’s weather has aided with restoration. Temperatures in the 70′s are a welcome change for workers who’ve been restoring power in 80 and 90 degree heat over the past week.

Safety Messages

Storms that produce heavy wind and rain cause damage that downs power lines. Customers should treat all downed lines as live power lines and stay away from them.

Keep children and pets away from fallen lines and anything the lines may touch. Never remove debris that’s within 10 feet of a power line.

Additional safety tips are posted at https://www.appalachianpower.com/safety/

Report an OutageVisit Appalachian Power.com to report an outage online anytime.

For More InformationFor information on a specific outage, check Appalachian Power’s Outage Map.

SATURDAY 5:00 P.M. UPDATE

Here are customer outage numbers combining different power company’s data.

Kentucky:

Martin County-- 1,842

Lawrence County-- 746

Greenup County-- 154

Lewis County-- 8

Carter County-- 326

Johnson County-- 2,537

Elliott County-- 244

Floyd County-- 1,608

Pike County-- 1,792

Boyd County-- 74

West Virginia:

Wayne County-- 2,846

Mingo County-- 6,322

Logan County-- 2,497

Cabell County, 1,179

Putnam County--226

Jackson County-- 44

Mason County-- 19

Kanawha County--3,648

Boone County-- 327

Clay County-- 429

Roane County--32

Lincoln County-- 745

Fayette County-- 1,260

AEP warns customers to never remove debris that’s within 10 feet of a power line. The company says Saturday’s weather is aiding in restoration efforts.

ORIGINAL: Thousands of customers are back in the dark after another series of storms ripped through the region on Friday bringing down power lines.

More than 79,000 AEP customers in West Virginia are without power Saturday morning.

AEP restored power to nearly 50,000 customers by Friday evening.

Below is a list of counties in the region struggling with outages Saturday:

In West Virginia, AEP customers:

-Boone: 323

-Cabell: 3,090

-Lincoln: 1,732

-Kanawha: 6,366

-Mingo: 6,554

-Putnam: 516

-Wayne: 4,802

Kentucky Power customers:

-Boyd: 353

-Carter: 641

-Elliot:10

-Floyd: 1,768

-Martin: 2,292

-Lawrence: 709

-Greenup: 388

-Lewis: 78

-Magoffin: 153

-Pike: 3,214

As for Big Sandy RECC customers:

-Johnson: 1.7k

-Floyd: 1k

-Lawrence: 397

-Martin: 275

Grayson RECC customers:

-Carter: 339

-Elliott: 403

-Greenup: 47

-Lawrence: 7

-Lewis: 4

Ohio AEP customers

-Lawrence: 150

-Scioto: 439

WSAZ is supposed to receive an update on restoration times later today.

Keep checking the WSAZ app.

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