Fredericksburg, Va. -Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s (REC) line crews, contractors, mutual-aid crews and other field personnel have restored more than 98% of the power outages caused by the ice storm late last week.
As of 9 a.m., under 600 outages remained, down from a high of more than 22,000 at the peak of the storm.
Last night’s heavy rain downed additional trees and limbs, adding more outages in the area of the original ice storm. As crews work today they will continue the tedious process of replacing broken poles, which they expect to find more of throughout the day.
Many of the damaged poles are inaccessible by traditional vehicles and require specialized, tracked equipment to access and replace, as the ground has become even more saturated. REC has heavy-duty towing services on standby to assist with extricating line trucks that become stuck in the mud.
“Even with the ongoing challenges faced by the crews, REC still expects nearly all remaining outages to be restored today,” said Casey Hollins, director of communications and public relations.
“However, even as restoration efforts for Ice Storm Tabitha near completion, REC is preparing for another storm later this week. Many of the mutual aid and contract crews already assisting REC will continue to work on the REC system on Wednesday, and additional crews are being secured so that REC will have ample resources and be ready to quickly respond to any damage from the wet snow and freezing rain forecasted for Thursday and Friday.”
REC provides electric service to over 170,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. With its general office in Fredericksburg, Va., the Cooperative operates and maintains more than 17,000 miles of power lines through its service area, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. For more information about REC, please visit www.myrec.coop. Follow REC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.