Power restored for nearly all AEP customers after some went a week without power

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. (WDBJ) - Appalachian Power has restored power to nearly all its customers a week after thousands of people across our hometowns were affected. Franklin County was hit particularly hard, with thousands of people losing power and some having to go a full week without power.

WDBJ7 spoke with AEP Wednesday about the reasons for the delays in restoring power to certain areas. AEP said when wind gusts are over 30 miles an hour, it is not safe for crews to go up in bucket trucks, which slowed restoration work in some areas.

“On top of that, some roads were unpassable due to flooding and snowfall,” said AEP spokesperson Ashley Workman. “We just have to take time to make sure we’re doing the job safely and make sure that our crews, as well as the crews that have been generous enough to come help us throughout this restoration effort, make it home to their families safely.”

Workman said AEP crews put in long and hard hours over the last week to restore power across the region. She said the significant ice accumulation and the number of fallen trees led to a significant number of outages.

Beth Preston lives in the Callaway area with her husband and their five children. They lost power last Wednesday morning and didn’t get it back until Tuesday afternoon. She said they had to use a propane heater to keep warm for nearly the entire week.

“The toughest part for us was our family. Just knowing we were helpless in the situation, using all our funds available to keep our children and our family warm, and just whatever we had to do to maintain our safety,” said Preston.

Preston said the Callaway area often deals with power outages during winter storms, but this was the longest she and some of her neighbors have gone without power.

“We were kind of led on throughout the whole week. It was ‘restoration is in store for tonight, restoration for two more days’ and then four more days. It was a lot of leading up to but never quite coming through,” she said.

Preston said friends and neighbors helped her family by providing showers and warm meals while they were without power. When it comes to AEP’s response to the outages, Preston said she thinks one thing that could be improved in the future is communication with crews that are brought in from out of state to help.

“I did speak with one of the linemen from Texas. He was the one who restored our power yesterday. I feel like the communication for the lineman that came in out of state was not there,” she said.

Preston said a key thing for fellow AEP customers in Franklin County to remember is that if you see a downed power line somewhere in the county, be sure to call AEP and report its exact location, which will help crews respond and get the power back on faster.

With strong winds expected Thursday and Friday, AEP said there is potential for more outages across our region.

“Right now our meteorology team and our storm response team are closely monitoring this weather system that’s passing through our region. Our crews are ready to respond as quickly and as safely as they possibly can to any outages,” said Workman. “We do encourage our customers to take time when the weather is favorable to make sure you’re prepared in the event of a power outage. So start compiling an emergency kit just in case an outage does occur to make sure you have all the necessities to keep yourself and your family safe.”

Workman said AEP takes some preventative measures like tree trimming to try to make power restoration faster and easier after storm events. AEP also encourages all its customers to sign up for outage alerts so they can stay informed about whether they will be affected.

As of Wednesday night, there were only five AEP customers in Franklin County without power. You can view AEP’s outage map here.