Monday, February 7, 2022
Situation
A workforce of more than 400 continues to make progress in the Wheeling area. Power is back on to a little more than 60% of customers affected by Thursday’s weather event. As crews make their way into more isolated areas, they are discovering more damage to Appalachian Power’s electrical facilities, which will extend restoration times for some customers.
Outages
At the height of the ice storm, 13,000 customers in the Northern Panhandle were without power. Since then, service has been restored to 8,200 customers.
Field crews have identified 225 locations where repairs are needed before service can be restored to the 4,300 customers without power. The number of locations where repairs are needed has continued to fluctuate as workers uncover more damage.
Storm Response Efforts
Additional line workers and tree crews arrived this morning to assist with restoration efforts. Restoring power has proven difficult, in part, due to ice-covered and muddy road conditions on secondary roads caused by thawing and refreezing. In some locations, crews are having to use heavy equipment to gain access to our electrical facilities as trees continue to block roads.
In extremely remote areas, some workers are having to travel by foot to access locations where repairs are needed. Outages are primarily due to downed wire caused by the weight of ice and trees on the line. In addition to wire down, crews have also discovered broken poles and other damaged equipment.
Restoration Estimates
Workers are restoring customers as safely and quickly as possible. Restoration times are currently being reviewed with assistance from crews in the field. The goal is to provide an updated time for customers later this afternoon. With difficult travel and working conditions, restoration times for some customers will extend beyond this evening and into Tuesday or Wednesday.
For the best available information on each specific outage, click the outage location on Appalachian Power’s Outage Map.
Weather
Warmer temperatures throughout the day are favorable for outage restoration.
Safety Messages
Ice storms can 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.
Employees are observing COVID-19 safety precautions as they go about restoring service in order to protect themselves, our customers and the public. Please protect yourself and our employees and contractors by not approaching them as they work to restore power. Maintaining social distancing is the best way you can help our crews.
Additional safety tips are posted at https://www.appalachianpower.com/safety/
Report an Outage
Visit Appalachian Power.com to report an outage online anytime.
For More Information
For information on a specific outage, check Appalachian Power’s Outage Map.
Next Update: Monday, February 7, 5:00 p.m
