WDBJ Channel 7 Says 200,000 Virginians Without Power Saturday Morning
February 6, 2010
Channel 7, WDBJ TV in Roanoke reported 200,000 Virginia Customers were without electricity on Saturday morning. Transmission lines from Fieldale to Stuart, and Woolwine to Stuart were down.
February 6, 2010-WDBJ Channel 7
Power crews face challenges during weekend storm
Two hundred thousand Virginians were without power Saturday morning and in just our viewing area, more than HALF of Appalachian Power's 45-thousand customers were in the dark.
News7 caught up with utility workers in the Henry County area during what's been a busy day.
For 28,0000 Virginians in our area Saturday morning, the lights were out.
The weight of the problem stems from iced-over tree limbs, falling down on powerlines.
But what a tree limb can do in a second, takes much more time for Appalachian Power workers to fix.
Employees working long hours are joined by additional contractors from other areas, even other states as far as West Virginia.
The first problem is getting the power to the stations in Henry County.
[The transmission lines from Fieldale to Stuart, and Woolwine to Stuart were down.
Thats what brings the power to the station, which means from here down, is in the dark.
And that doesnt being to address the lines going to your house.
"With the act of nature as it is, of course, we dont have any control over it," says Tracy Tuck of Appalachian Power.
"We just do the best we can. We caught up with a crew repairing wires to peoples homes just outside Martinsville, where there are ALSO major power failures. They were replacing a wire that slashed down by a tree, a typical repair across the County. Basically, we set up the bucket truck and go up and we pull up the wire and splice it back together. For single a repair like this one, they say, it takes at least 2 hours, but I would say that at this particular area, this will feed 3- or 4- thousand customers.Appalachian Power says they expect to restore power to all customers by Monday---the latest, they tell us, Tuesday," says Tuck.
We're also told that crews from Central Virginia Electric Cooperative AND Dominion Virginia Power are working to restore power to their customers who are currently without power.
