4th UPDATE: More Than 1 Million Customers Lose Power In Virginia, N Carolina From Irene
August 27 2011 - 7:39PM
Dow Jones News
Hurricane Irene so far has left more than one million utility
customers without power in North Carolina and Virginia as high
winds keep line crews from assessing initial storm damage, two of
the region's largest utilities said Saturday.
Dominion Resources Inc. (D) reported Saturday evening that
nearly 783,000 of its customers had lost power, with Richmond and
southeastern Virginia the hardest hit, and a smaller portion of
outages in North Carolina.
Progress Energy Inc. (PGN) said less than 235,000 customers were
without power in coastal North Carolina, Raleigh and some parts of
South Carolina as the massive storm swept through the region.
Progress has been able to restore power to several thousand
customers in South Carolina and southern North Carolina as the
storm has moved north, said Progress spokeswoman Jessica
Lambert.
In Virginia and North Carolina, high winds kept line workers
from starting to assess the damage from Irene and make repairs to
restore power.
Progress won't send crews to restore power unless winds are
blowing less than 39 miles an hour, Lambert said.
Customers in the hardest hit areas could be without power for a
number of days, as the utility works to repair damage from flooding
and restore transmission lines that were disabled during the storm,
Lambert said.
Utility crews in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions such
as Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PEG) and Consolidated
Edison Inc. (ED) were preparing as Hurricane Irene was moving up
the coast as a Category 1 storm carrying maximum sustained winds of
85 miles per hour. ConEd said it is considering shutting off power
in all low-lying areas of New York City as a precaution against
storm surges.
None of Progress's power plants experienced any damage from the
storm. As a precaution, the utility reduced power output at its
Brunswick nuclear plant located near Southport, N.C. The facility
is operating normally, Lambert said. The utility has had some
outages along its high-voltage transmission line system and will
have to restore those lines before crews restore power to
individual customers in those areas, Lambert said.
The number of outages is likely to grow as Hurricane Irene moves
up the East Coast. Hurricane Fran in 1996 cut right through the
center of Progress's service territory in the Carolinas knocking
out power to 800,000 customers, Hughes said.
Dominion did not shut any of its power plants ahead of the
storm. The company's Surry nuclear power plant in southeastern
Virginia continues to operate, while its North Anna nuclear plant
in central Virginia remains shut following an earthquake earlier
this week, said Karl Neddenien, a spokesman for Dominion.
Both Dominion and Progress have brought in workers and equipment
from out of state to help their crews restore power once wind
speeds slow.
-By Cassandra Sweet and Mark Peters, Dow Jones Newswires;
415-269-4446; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com
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