Dominion says the lights are back on for 70 percent of those who lost power due to Hurricane Matthew

Dominion Virginia Power says its crews made steady progress over the weekend, restoring power to more than 70 percent of the 462,000 customers impacted by Hurricane Matthew since 4 p.m. Saturday.

As of 6 a.m. Monday, 136,600 customers remain without power at 3,600 work locations.

The majority of those impacted are in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, where historic rainfall, high winds and saturated ground combined to cause extensive damage to roads, bridges and electrical infrastructure. Damage included broken poles, cross arms and downed wire in many locations.

“Extremely hazardous flooding conditions and high winds over the weekend made it too dangerous to use bucket trucks and hampered our ability to initially make repairs at hard-hit locations,” a Dominion press release said.

Since the storm impacts lasted well into yesterday; today, Oct. 10, is Dominion’s first full day of restoration. Crews are out in force and will continue to focus on damage assessments and restoration to critical services such as 911 centers, water pumping stations and hospitals. There were 433 critical services affected by the storm and, as of this morning, 87 percent of them had been restored.

Once Dominion has a “more complete assessment of all damage,” the power company will be able to provide individual estimated restoration times for customers, according to the press release. 

The company has more than 2,300 people working to restore power and that number will increase as it brings back 500 additional line workers onto the Dominion system from contractors returning from Florida. The press release said the power company will “also continue to work through our mutual assistance process with neighboring utilities.”

Dominion says it 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.