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Heavy snow snaps power lines across West Virginia

Parkersburg News and Sentinel photo by Pamela Brust The heavy, wet snow that bombarded the Mid-Ohio Valley Wednesday and Thursday caused power lines to snap and trees to fall onto lines, resulting in power outages all over Wood County.
Parkersburg News and Sentinel photo by Pamela Brust
The heavy, wet snow that bombarded the Mid-Ohio Valley Wednesday and Thursday caused power lines to snap and trees to fall onto lines, resulting in power outages all over Wood County.

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Power interruptions peppered the area Thursday as snow caused trees and branches to fall onto lines or snapped the wires, power companies said.

Utilities are making repairs throughout the region where thousands of customers were without electricity, many of those in Wood County, according to Monongahela Power on Thursday.

Utility crews repaired damaged lines throughout the region, said Todd Meyers, a spokesman for the Monongahela Power Co. who warns residents to never touch a wire on the ground because it may still be energized with electricity.

“Stay away from downed lines,” Meyers said.

Disruptions in the Mon Power district were concentrated between the Ohio River eastward toward Interstate 79. Across the service district, the peak was about 43,000 customers without electricity of the 525,000 Mon Power customers, including those served by Potomac Edison in the Eastern Panhandle.

Repairs are being made as swiftly as possible; however, the snow has made travel difficult, Meyers said. On Wednesday, it was high water making travel difficult, he said.

“As you can imagine, it’s hard to get around,” Meyers said.

Most of the outages in Wood County were in Parkersburg and in the Walker areas, according to the outage map. Outages were scattered throughout the county.

More than 1,200 outages were reported in Parkersburg as of late Thursday afternoon. Wood County reported more than 5,400 still without power on Thursday evening.

Power was estimated to be restored to the majority of Wood County residents by early Sunday.

A problem was at a substation in southern Wood County; transmission lines to and from the substation may be damaged, affecting many customers, he said.

“When we triage things, we go after the biggest lines first,” Meyers said.

A breakdown of the number of outages Thursday morning, according to Mon Power, is:

* Calhoun, 1,713 of 4,661 customers.

* Doddridge, 1,682 of 3,632 customers.

* Gilmer, 2,079 of 4,295 customers.

* Jackson, 1,083 of 2,009 customers.

* Pleasants, 995 of 3,976 customers.

* Ritchie, 2,169 of 6,583 customers.

* Roane, 824 of 6,516 customers.

* Tyler, 2,243 of 5,405 customers.

* Wirt, 1,497 of 3,652 customers.

* Wood, 5,638 of 45,233.

In Washington County, the Washington County Electric Cooperative reported on its website that as many as 2,600 customers were without power Thursday. A spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment.

A substation at Rinard Mills and the metering point at Fly were experiencing transmission outages and there were scattered outages throughout the service district, the cooperative said. Transmission power was restored at the Fly metering point shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday, the cooperative said.

Washington Electric has requested assistance from other electric cooperatives in Ohio to help with restoration.

More than 830 line, tree, assessment and support employees under American Electric Power-Ohio were involved with restoring power in Southeastern Ohio.

More than 24,000 customers were without power Thursday afternoon, AEP said. Of those, 1,140 were in Marietta, 2,950 in Athens, 6,300 in Pomeroy and 3,680 in Portsmouth.

Damage was caused by falling trees, broken crossarms and downed wires, the company said. Hardest hit were the areas of Ironton, Portsmouth and Wellston.

Because of an electrical power outage on Thursday, the Little Hocking Water Association lost power to the Ridgewood booster station, resulting in a depressurization in the Ridgewood Heights and Dugan Ridge areas. The district issued a boil water advisory for customers in Ridgewood Heights and along Belpre Township Road 97, including the Dugan Ridge area.

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