NORFOLK, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from February 20, 2020.
Dominion Energy is working to restore electricity to thousands of customers as winter weather makes its way across Virginia.
As of January 4, only 350 customers in the Hampton Roads area were still without power, and Dominion Energy stated that their power would be restored by the end of the day.
Dominion Energy provided an update around 9:45 p.m. on January 3 that said 460 customers in Hampton Roads and northern North Carolina are still without service.
Dominion Energy’s Paula Miller said her team has already restored power to customers, but they expect more outages as the weather worsens.
As Monday’s winter storm rolled into Hampton Roads, thousands of people lost power to their homes.
“We started the storm at about 3,300, so we’ve made improvements," Miller said. "But as the day goes on, we certainly can expect some additional outages from wind and rain.”
Miller said her team is keeping a close eye on the weather and is prepared for conditions to evolve.
Miller said Dominion Energy has already made progress in restoring power to some hard-hit areas, and crews are trained to safely work through the storm to get customers back online.
“They are adequately trained to work through the storm, and they will work around the clock until every customer is restored,” Miller said.
Miller explained that snow and freezing rain can weigh down power lines and tree limbs, which can cause outages. But she said that her team expected this weather, and crews are deploying as soon as outages are reported.
“We do meet ahead of time, and we of course assess all of our resources," Miler said. "They know where they’re going to be deployed, as needed, to the different regions. So there’s a lot of preparation that does go into pre-storm activity in terms of preparing.”
If you see a downed power line, Miller says you should stay away from it and keep your pets and children away from it. You should report it to Dominion Energy.
You can report an outage or downed power line or check on the status of an outage by calling Dominion Energy at 866-366-4357.