WEST VIRGINIA (LOOTPRESS) – Strong thunderstorms moving through southern West Virginia on Thursday morning left thousands of Appalachian Power customers without electricity as crews worked to restore service while severe weather continued across the region.
As of 11:45 a.m., approximately 12,400 Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia were without power. Since 6 a.m., the utility had restored service to more than 6,400 customers. Across its service territory, about 14,700 customers remained without electricity.
The hardest-hit counties included Mason County with about 2,630 outages, Raleigh County with approximately 2,275, Mingo County with 1,900, Mercer County with 1,600, Logan County with 1,250, Jackson County with 1,120 and Wyoming County with 1,100.
Appalachian Power said strong winds and hazardous weather are expected to continue throughout the day as the storm system moves east into Virginia and Tennessee. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph are forecast, with isolated gusts up to 60 mph possible in higher elevations.
The company said ongoing high winds and heavy rain are creating difficult working conditions for restoration crews. Winds exceeding 30 mph make elevated bucket truck operations unsafe, which could delay restoration efforts in some areas.
Appalachian Power said it activated its storm response plan before the storms arrived by placing employees and business partners on alert.
Additional personnel from surrounding states are traveling into the service territory to assist with restoration efforts. Damage assessments are ongoing, and crews are restoring power where conditions allow.
Customers are urged to stay away from all downed power lines and to treat them as energized. The utility also advises keeping children and pets away from fallen lines and any objects they may be touching.
Appalachian Power said outage numbers are expected to increase throughout Thursday as storms continue moving across the region. Customers can monitor outages and estimated restoration times through the company’s online outage map and receive updates through its Outage Alerts program.
