Fredericksburg, Va. – As of Saturday evening, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) crews, contractors and mutual-aid workers had restored power to all but about 10,000 members who lost power in historic Winter Storm Frida.
That’s down from a peak outage number of 98,000 on Monday.
The remaining outages include nearly 1,000 separate outage events. Some of those individual outages can take more than half a day to make repairs and restore service.
In Ruther Glen, for instance, First Class Lineman Zack Zelenick was part of a pole-replacement crew on Saturday afternoon.
“I know people are getting anxious and want their lights back on,” Zelenick said, as a chain saw buzzed in the background. “But we have hundreds of broken poles, and each pole can take up to several hours to replace. It just depends on the situation. Just please be patient and know that we’re working to get to everyone’s power on as quickly and safely as possible.”
Members without power can now better track the outage restoration process on REC’s website, myrec.coop. The outage map has been enhanced to better reflect outage locations. Where possible, outage restoration times are also included on the website.
“We know this outage is frustrating – nearly a week is a very long time to go without power,” said Casey Hollins, Managing Director – Communications and Public Relations. “But please continue to stay safe around any downed electrical equipment. Never touch a downed power line or any other electrical equipment that might be in your area. Please continue to be extremely cautious as our highly skilled crews make their way to additional damage sites.”
