Power companies assessing damage across state
October 30, 2012 ·
Appalachian Power is reporting more than 143,000 customers without power as of Tuesday afternoon.
Jeri Matheny, communications director for the company, said
they are still in the assessment phase, but know that more than 50 transmission
lines are down and 30 substations are without power.
One-thousand line mechanics were already in place, half of
those being Appalachian Power workers and the other half back-up brought in from
out of state. The company expected more than 100 more workers from Ohio
and other areas of the Midwest to make their way into West
Virginia to serve as additional aid.
“We are
already in place and working to restore power and we expect to make good
progress," Matheny said, "but the fact is that the snow is still falling and the more
mountainous regions expect to get more snow today so outage numbers could
continue to rise.”
Matheny asks any Appalachian Power customer without power to
report the outage so they can asses their smaller issues more quickly.
Officials with First Energy did not immediately return phone
calls Tuesday morning, but their website was reporting more than 111,000 Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers without power.