Dominion Virginia Power Line Crews Working Through Wind, Rain to Restore Power

RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 6 VA-Dominion-restores


RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dominion Virginia Power
repair crews restored service to more than 67,000 customers by midday Saturday
as Tropical Storm Hanna sped though eastern North Carolina and into Virginia
with high winds and heavy rains.


A total of 111,000 customers had been affected by the storm and 44,000
remained without power in both states as Hanna continued its northward
movement across the company's service area.  Additional outages are expected.


Hundreds of Dominion line crews were working more than 750 repair sites to
restore power as quickly as possible.  Company personnel will work around the
clock and throughout the weekend and beyond if necessary until all customers
are restored.


Most of the damage was caused by falling trees and tree limbs, forcing
linemen and tree crews to clear debris before restoring power.  The outages
were scattered from the Outer Banks to north of Richmond.


Crews were mobilized well before the storm and began making damage
assessments and repairs at first light.


"Safety is our first priority -- safety of our customers and safety of our
crews," said Rodney Blevins, vice president-Distribution.  "Driving and
working in high winds and heavy rain with storm debris lying all around is not
easy.  We are asking all customers to stay away from and report downed power
lines."


All power lines should be considered energized and extremely dangerous.


Customers should call Dominion toll free at 1-888-667-3000 to report
outages or downed lines.  They should have their Dominion account number handy
to speed outage reporting.


Early Saturday, Dominion crews were dispatched to an area near the Elmont
exit on Interstate 95 north of Richmond to repair a power line that was down
across both the north and south lanes of the interstate, forcing authorities
to close it.  Repair crews initially had difficulty reaching the site because
of backed-up traffic.  The outage occurred around 8:30 a.m. when a tree fell
on the line.  The line was repaired by 10 a.m. and the interstate reopened.


The highest priority for restoration is always given to public safety and
emergency situations. Transmission lines, substations and major distribution
circuits that serve large numbers of customers also receive high priority.
Customer outages are automatically compiled and worked on in an order designed
to restore service in the fastest possible way to the largest number of
customers.


Dominion began preparing for Tropical Storm Hanna days ago, mobilizing
repair crews and dispatching them with bucket trucks and other equipment to
areas expected to be hardest hit.


In addition to focusing on safety around downed power lines, Dominion
asked its customers to be especially careful with backup electrical
generators.  Never overload or operate a generator in a closed environment
such as a garage, or plug it directly into a regular household outlet.
Improperly connected generators can damage household appliances and injure or
kill linemen working to restore power.



Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a
portfolio of approximately 27,000 megawatts of generation.  Dominion serves
retail energy customers in 12 states. For more information about Dominion,
visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.



SOURCE  Dominion Virginia Power