Saturday, February 5, 2022 – 10:30 a.m.
Situation
Appalachian Power is working to restore electric service to approximately 9,700 customers in the Wheeling area who remain without power following Thursday’s winter storm event. At the height of the storm, roughly 17,000 Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia lost power after precipitation and freezing temperatures produced ice build-up and caused significant damage to electrical facilities, primarily in the Wheeling area.
Outages
There are nearly 200 places where repairs must be made in order to restore power to all customers in the Northern Panhandle.
Despite the challenging weather and travel conditions, progress is being made. Yesterday, crews restored service to roughly 3,000 customers in the Wheeling area affected by the storm.
Storm Response Efforts
Around 315 line workers are dedicated to getting the power back on in the Northern Panhandle, including 215 workers who traveled to Wheeling to assist with the restoration.
Crews are reporting downed lines as the primary cause of outages in the area.
As heavy ice build-up on our facilities lingers due to freezing temperatures, additional damage may occur due to fallen trees and limbs.
Workers are dealing with icy road conditions, especially on backroads and in rural areas, which has slowed restoration efforts.
Restoration Estimates
Crews are in the field and restoring customers as safely and quickly as possible, and will make more progress as the weather situation improves. We expect all customers in the Wheeling area to be restored by Monday evening, February 7; however, most customers will be restored prior to that time.
For the best available information on each specific outage, click the outage location on Appalachian Power’s Outage Map.
Weather
Freezing temperatures will continue today in the Northern Panhandle making travel and restoration work difficult. Sunday’s forecast looks favorable for service restoration with dry weather and temperatures above freezing.
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: Sunday, February 6, 10:00 a.m.
