NORFOLK, Va. — As storms move through the Hampton Roads area, Dominion Energy crews are keeping an eye on the weather.
A lot of rain and wind is forecasted to hit Hampton Roads Sunday night and into Monday morning.
"Anytime there’s wind, there could be outages. That’s why we prepare for them and we encourage people to prepare as well,” explained Cherise Newsome with Dominion Energy.
Newsome said her team is watching the potential for power outages. The main concern is the wind sending trees and tree branches onto overhead lines.
“With this storm, we are expecting significant wind, and wind can topple trees and blow branches onto power lines. Actually, trees and tree limbs are the number one cause of power outages in storms like the one we’re expecting,” she said.
Newsome said heavy rain can also saturate the ground, and that combined with strong wind gusts can send trees toppling over. She said Dominion Energy teams know this and they work to trim and cut potential problem trees throughout the year, not just before the storm.
“We perform tree trimming all year round," she said. "It’s actually a part of our grid hardening efforts which help to ensure reliability so that there are less power outages, especially in storms like this.”
As the storm moves into the area, Newsome said Dominion Energy crews are stationed across Hampton Roads to respond to any problems.
“Also the Outer Banks is expected to get some impacts from this storm," Newsome said. "So the Outer Banks, North Eastern North Carolina, Elizabeth City – we have crews in all of our offices, fully staffed. And we have contractors on standby.”
RELATED: RADAR: Sunday's Coastal Storm System
She said if your neighborhood loses power, crews are ready to react as quickly as they can.
If you lose electricity, notice a downed line or see a tree limb or tree on a line you can contact Dominion Energy to report an outage or a problem on their app, their website, or via phone at 1-866-DOM-HELP.