Electric News Releases - 1999

September 16, 1999

Virginia Power Service Restoration Effort Intensified As Hurricane Floyd Moves Away

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Power launched an unprecedented effort Thursday afternoon to restore power to all affected customers as Hurricane Floyd moved away from the state.

"The good weather that we expect during the next few days should greatly help our efforts to repair damage and restore our customers' electricity," said Tom Hyman, vice president and general manager-Distribution. "But we still must contend with a tremendous amount of high water in some areas. Trees are down and some major roads are flooded. Some of our customers may be without power for several days."

As of 3:30 p.m., more than 200,000 of Virginia Power's 2 million customers were without electricity. Floyd brought high winds and torrential rains to sections of central and eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina before moving into the Atlantic near Virginia Beach about midday. The storm caused extensive flooding in many areas.

Virginia Power has mobilized a workforce of more than 5,500 to deal with Floyd's damage. Contractors and utility crews from as far away as Ohio and Kentucky have been called in to assist the restoration effort.

On the Peninsula, rising water forced the company to shut down five electrical substations. The step was necessary to prevent more extensive equipment damage that would have led to substantially longer outages. Repair crews were working Thursday afternoon to return the substations to service.

In northeastern North Carolina, where the company operates as North Carolina Power, damage caused by Floyd cut the flow of electricity through the two 115,000-volt transmission lines serving the Outer Banks. Nearly 30,000 customers there without service for about seven hours. The company restored these circuits Thursday afternoon.

The company also lost the use of 12 other transmission lines in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. One of the lines had been restored as of 2:30 p.m. and crews were working to repair the damage to the other circuits.

Virginia Power is the principal subsidiary of Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D), an energy company with headquarters in Richmond.

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