ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The winter storm continues through the region, leaving many Virginians without power. As of Wednesday evening, more than 50,000 homes in the commonwealth are in the dark.
As Appalachian Power warned, the heavy, wet snow and ice has started to weigh down trees and power lines.
“When ice accumulation is over a quarter of an inch and there’s heavy snow coupled with that, that’s when we can really start to see problems that lead to power outages,” Ashley Workman, a communications representative with Appalachian Power, said. “The weight weighs down our lines and tree limbs.”
That’s what happened to a tree in Bedford County, as it fell onto a powerline and cut the power from the surrounding neighborhoods.
Current restoration estimates are not until Friday, which poses inconveniences.
“Mainly losing food; we just went to the grocery store right before this so that would be a big loss,” Matthew Doss, a Bedford County resident living in one of the affected neighborhoods, said. “We’ve got two young kids, so we’re without heat right now so that’s kind of a big issue that we’re thinking about right now.”
With the outages on the rise, the number of Appalachian Power workers committed to storm repairs has also grown since yesterday.
“A total of 5,700 workers are dedicated to restoring power,” Workman said. “That includes our Appalachian Power crews, as well as mutual assistance crews who have traveled or are traveling to assist us.”
With the ongoing poor weather, it wants to make sure power is restored safely.
“I know the power company is working pretty hard out there to get everybody restored,” Doss said. “We respect that they work in conditions like this.”
Appalachian Power wants to remind its customers to report any outages through its app or website so it can work on restoration efforts.