CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Appalachian Power reports service has been restored to everyone affected by the most recent batch of storms.
Company spokesperson Debby Pannell told MetroNews that it took a lot of work. Those repairs wrapped up Tuesday night. ApCo has restored service to around 50,000 customers since Sunday. The majority of the power outages happened in West Virginia, with some in Virginia as well.
“We are in really good shape,” Pannell said. “They have restored all of the customers who were without power due to the storm. The workforce included about 2,000 (people); that includes us, our contractors, mutual assistance crews. They had some busy days for sure.”
Pannell said there were several unique challenges about the storms that rolled through West Virginia Sunday through Tuesday.
“Especially on that last storm, there was quite a bit of flooding,” Pannell described. “There were some areas that we just couldn’t get to. We’re used to difficult terrain, but when it comes to flooding, sometimes it just locks you out of an area. That was a big challenge with the last one.”
Additionally, the hits kept on coming, Pannell noted, with storms in successive weekends.
“The continuous outages,” Pannell said. “In the first storm, it came in August 11, we restored 31,000 (customers) that day, and we get hit again with more wind and rain.”
During the most recent wave of three-day storms, Pannell reported there was widespread damage throughout southern West Virginia.
“We had more than 140 spans of downed wire,” Pannell said. “With that comes broken poles, broken crossarms, transformers, insulators; a lot of different things that they need to make repairs with.”
Pannell said several communities in Kanawha and Wayne counties were the most affected.
“Hardest-hit areas: Eastern Kanawha Valley, Glasgow, Crum, Kermit, we had a lot of outages in Hamlin, Wayne,” Pannell said. “So, definitely had quite a bit there.”
As always, Appalachian Power keeps an eye on the sky, Pannell said. She said ApCo has a team of meteorologists always monitoring the weather to prepare for any storms that come.