Dominion Energy Virginia working to restore power after historic storm

Dominion Energy Virginia said its crews continued to restore power to customers affected by one of the worst winter storms to hit the region in years, noting on Wednesday that the recovery effort was hampered by some crews facing roadblocks on roads that were closed due to icy conditions.

In addition to Dominion Energy crews, contractors, and more than 800 mutual aid workers are rolling in to provide assistance to the storm that struck on Monday, which left pockets of heavy damage and impacted travel across the state.

Approximately 400,000 customers experienced a power outage as heavy snow and high winds hit early Monday morning. Officials say it is one of the five most damaging winter storms to impact Dominion Energy Virginia’s service territory.

Crews worked through the night and are making progress on restoring power, officials said on Twitter Wednesday morning. As of Tuesday afternoon, approximately 290,000 customers had power restored.

The storm resulted in downed trees and limbs, and downed power lines, broken poles, and cross arms at more than 6,700 locations across Virginia.

“Road closures and treacherous local road conditions are impacting the time it takes to reach work locations to make repairs and restore power. Our crews are working as quickly as possible to reach impacted areas and restore power,” officials tweeted Wednesday at noon.

The company expects most power to be restored by Wednesday night, however, it noted that some outages could extend into Thursday. The damage is most severe around Charlottesville and Fredericksburg.

“We have a well-coordinated effort underway involving thousands of hard-working men and women, both on the front lines and behind-the-scenes, to restore service as safely and quickly as possible,” Charlene Whitfield, senior vice president of Power Delivery at Dominion Energy Virginia, said. “We understand our customers rely on us for reliable service, particularly in cold weather and during the ongoing pandemic, and we are doing our best to respond to the catastrophic damage we have seen across our Virginia service area.”

Dominion Energy is monitoring the weather forecast for more potential winter weather later this week. Officials say the company will be prepared to safely and efficiently restore any customer outages should they occur.