CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Power outages across southern West Virginia have put linemen from Appalachian Power in some challenging situations. The ice which followed the first inch or two of snow across the southern part of the state really created havoc on electric lines in the company’s West Virginia service territory.
“We’re finding secondary roads are now plowed and our locations are not always on the main road and are often off the beaten path. It’s just slow going getting the locations we need to reach,” said Appalachian Power Spokesperson Debbie Pannell.
As of Tuesday afternoon the company reported more than 27,000 outages in West Virginia. The heaviest concentrations were in Beckley, Charleston, and across Mercer
County. Pannell said conditions weren’t making it any easier.
“Ice on the lines is sometimes causing additional outages. As crews are working to re-string or re-hang the line that weight of the ice on the line is causing additional outages down the road,” she said.
The are currently 6,000 linemen working in the region to make the restoration. The effort was bolstered by a number of linemen from the company’s operations in Indiana and Michigan. Damage totals include: 475 spans of downed wire, 80 broken poles, 65 damaged cross arms and 30 transformers in need of maintenance.
The company has established restoration times as follows for each areas:
Milton 1,271 6 p.m., Jan. 7
Hamlin 194 6 p.m., Jan. 7
Charleston 7,916 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Glasgow 194 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Walgrove 2,436 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Beckley 2,023 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Hico 1,000 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Pineville 160 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Logan 729 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Madison 850 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Williamson 129 8 p.m., Jan. 8
Pannell said each of the times is for full restoration of all outages, she stressed many will be coming back on line hour by hour as repairs are made.
“We will continue to restore service throughout that period, this is just when we anticipate having our last customers restored,” she explained.