Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-888-335-0500, [email protected]
NOVEC crews work to restore power during windstorm
Trees and branches continue to fall on power lines
MANASSAS, Va. — Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative crews and utility crews from Tennessee and Georgia will be working through the weekend in NOVEC’s six-county territory to restore power as nor’easter winds continue to blow trees and branches onto power lines March 2-3.
As of 5:30 p.m. on March 2, approximately 19,000 NOVEC customers were without power. According to weather reports, almost 2.4 million electric-utility customers are without power along the east coast, including more than 900,000 in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland.
“We’ve been working since early Friday morning when wind gusts started blowing trees and branches outside our right-of-way corridors onto power lines,” explains Mason “Skip” Hollcroft, NOVEC construction manager. “Workers will continue to coordinate efforts to locate and remove trees on lines, and then restore service through the weekend.”
Hollcroft adds, “We’ll safely get everyone’s power back on as soon as we can, but we ask for patience as crews work in treacherous conditions. Falling trees and branches from gusting winds as strong as 70 miles per hour are creating hazardous work conditions.”
Hollcroft notes that trees and branches on power lines in wooded areas are harder to find, but NOVEC’s fault indicators are helping line techs find the culprit trees. “Our state-of-the-art fault indicators are a big help,” Hollcroft says.
Customers can see NOVEC’s outage map by going to www.novec.com and selecting “Outage Center.” Customers can also follow what is happening on social media, but should never report an outage there.
“We need a customer’s address and account number for outage reporting – personal information customers should never post on social media,” explains Tong Thomas, manager of NOVEC’s Customer Care Center. “Call us instead, use our text-reporting system, or report the outage on our secure website. These methods are the safest and quickest way to communicate with us and have service restored.”
What to do if a Power Outage Occurs
- Either call NOVEC at 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500, follow the text-message instructions, or report an outage at www.novec.com. Have your account number ready.
- Warning: Stay away from downed power lines and poles and the area around them. Be aware that even metal storm debris hiding a live downed power line can shock or electrocute anyone who comes in contact with it. Notify NOVEC immediately about down lines at 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500.
- Use flashlights, lanterns, or battery-powered candles instead of real candles. If you use real candles, keep them away from children and flammable household furnishings.
- Open freezers and refrigerators only when necessary. Put needed perishable food in coolers with ice or ice packs.
- Warning: Only use a portable generator, camp stove, or charcoal grill outdoors to prevent creating deadly carbon-monoxide fumes indoors. Hire a professional to install a whole-house generator because an incorrectly installed generator could back-feed electricity onto the grid and seriously harm line techs who are trying to restore service.
- After power is restored, please wait five to ten minutes before turning on major appliances and heating systems.
Learn more about storm preparation and outages at www.novec.com/outageinfo.
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