CHARLESTON, W.Va. — This Saturday will mark one year since the super derecho, the straight line wind storm packing winds of more than 90 miles per hour, ripped through West Virginia.
At one time after the storm, half of Appalachian Power’s customers in Southern West Virginia did not have power and Jeri Matheney, Appalachian Power’s Communications Director, said company workers were scrambling.
“We learned great lessons from the derecho all across our company,” said Matheney.
Twelve months later, she said power restoration is now being better prioritized between transmission and distribution, contractors are being pre-certified so they can get on-site faster following future storms and more non-traditional employees, including retirees, are being tapped to help with restoration as well.
The super derecho was one storm system that moved from the Midwest to the East Coast which complicated restoration efforts because so many of the backup workers Appalachian draws on for storm repairs were needed in so many other areas.
It took weeks to restore power in parts of the Mountain State.
Matheney is the President of the West Virginia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The organization recently recognized Appalachian Power, and its parent company American Electric Power, for the company’s public relations work after the storm.
Matheney was a guest on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”