Dominion Virginia Power Crews Fully Engaged in Restoring Service in Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew

RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Virginia Power is restoring service to the more than 432,000 customers that were impacted since 4 p.m. Saturday by Hurricane Matthew, the majority being in southeastern Virginia and North Carolina. As of 1 p.m. Sunday, 280,000 remain out.

The storm tracked further north than predicted, combining with another weather system that turned it into an extra tropical event, pushing high winds beyond the eye of the storm. The near historic rainfall contributed to the already saturated grounds which combined with the strong winds that toppled trees and downed power lines in our central and eastern regions.

In the aftermath, there are many locations with broken poles and cross arms and wire down. Our crews are out in force, but they have been limited in their ability to get to repair locations due to flooded roads. Flooding is expected to recede as the day progresses and access improves.

In anticipation of the storm, our eastern Virginia and North Carolina local offices were fully staffed Saturday night with all crews and contractors coming in at 6 a.m. this morning. Additional crews from unaffected areas were mobilized overnight and are engaged in the restoration efforts.

Our focus today is on critical services, such as 911 centers, water pumping stations and hospitals. Every available tree or line crews from unaffected areas are on the way to assist at this time. In addition, we are working with our peer utilities for mutual aid assistance to speed the restoration process.

As conditions improve we will deploy the necessary resources to provide damage assessments, with more help on the way, however it will be a few days before all of the power can be restored. We appreciate our customers' patience as we work to safely gain access and make repairs.

We cannot emphasize enough to stay away from downed wires and trees making contact with wires. Stay at least 30 feet away and report downed wires to 1.866.366.4357. Call Dominion right away at 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) to speak with an agent to report the downed wire. Please be patient if the wait time is longer than usual – it is very important for Dominion to know a wire is down.

Be sure to report your outage right away to help us with an efficient restoration. The quickest and easiest way is to report it on dom.com using your mobile device. You can also call us at 866-DOM-HELP.

Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy. Dominion serves more than 6 million utility and retail energy customers. It has a portfolio of approximately 25,700 megawatts of generation, 14,400 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,500 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion also operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.

SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power

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