When did your power come back on . . . or not?
So . . . my power on Tillett Road came back on sometime between 7 and 8 p.m Saturday. We were out of the house, eating dinner at Remini’s on Brambleton (very good, btw) and when we got home, yipee!
Tell us when yours came back on, and include the street and the locality.
If yours is still out, tell us and the street and locality, too.
If you are one of the lucky ones who didn’t lose power, tell us the same info.
The truth is, I had settled in for a much longer wait. I drove around Friday night, and Saturday morning, midday and afternoon, and I didn’t see a single Apco truck out. Nobody I talked to saw one either. The first one I saw was at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
So thanks, Apco! It was only 22 hours! Never thought I’d deliver praise for that. But there’s always a first. . .
July 6, 2012 - 2:00 AM
Seems like I was one of the few people in Christiansburg whose power didn’t go out. A couple of blinks during the wind, but no rain either. The cable was out until afternoon, though.
Walmart was closed until 1:00pm too, then I hear it was a madhouse! A friend of mine said they sold a truckload of coolers in an hour and a half!
I’m fortunate. Two of my clients called; they’re in the dark… still.
Our power in eastern Pulaski County stayed on…a few blinks but that was all, and very little rain. But the winds reminded me of riding out hurricanes in Virginia Beach. I’ll be running the mower with the grass catcher tomorrow to clean up the tree debris.
Mine, in Salem, was out from about 9:45 pm Friday night until about 3:30 am Sat morning. A very large tree fell on power lines on River Road, which caused our outage. Perhaps because they needed to clear the road, ours was restored pretty quickly. Wind took down about half of one of my Bradford pear trees but luckily, it fell away from the house. BTW, chainsaws are nowhere to be purchased in Salem right now.
Consider yourself lucky. No power here on berkley ave, sw. Got baby in the house its totally hot and uncomfortable. No fun!
Malvern Road, Roanoke power out since 9:50 pm Friday.
We were back on line around 4pm on Saturday.
Donlee Drive
Blacksvurg
I have power on Carter in Roanoke. My family in covington does not.
Still without power in the Old Monterey golf course area. Power lines still lying on the ground on Nelms Lane & Old Mountain Road.
We decided to hit the Grandin theater and Grace’s during the hot part of the afternoon, then took a nice rided up 12 0′clock knob. When we got back home, power was on and life was indeed good.
If anyone in Roanoke needs some help with a downed tree, I have a big chainsaw…
We left for the beach at 3am Saturday morning but were lucky enough to not have lost our power. We wont be back for a couple weeks, but we sent a few friends over to hang out in the house until their power comes back. We live close enough to the hospital that I think we’re on their grid…probably saved us.
Was there any warning about this storm? It seems like every time it’s potentially going to snow more than 1/4 inch we’re barraged with warnings and forecasts and storm trajectories on tv….I don’t think I heard a word about this one.
As of 8am Sunday, we are still without power on Arlington Rd in Raleigh Court. I drove around yesterday too and didnt see any AEP crews.
For anyone who is looking for hard-to-find ice: try the nearest Arby’s, if they have power. They have a promotion going right now for 99 cents a bag (8 lb).
Zach and I went to Kroger @ Cave Spring Corners Saturday morning, and they didn’t have a bag. We were headed down to the other Kroger on Brambleton when he spied the sign promoting the ice deal at Arby’s. (It’s on their door stickers, too, which suggests this is nothing to do with the storm).
Arby’s had electricity, but no AC. The doors were open, the parking lot was empty (nearby Hardees was absolutely jammed). We walked in with 2 coolers and asked for 8 bags and the gal at the counter didn’t bat an eyelash.
Kristen, this storm just “blew up” on the radar in the early afternoon. I had about 45 minutes warning here in Blacksburg, but I watch the radar off and on all day since I work outside. With the extreme heat and a weak frontal system moving through, it just happened to make the perfect combination to create a powerful squall line storm. Most of the warnings went up at least 30 minutes before the storm came.
I was very fortunate here. Of the six properties I manage, the only casualties were the top of a poplar tree and a butterfly bush. Oh, and some trashcans and recycling bins, of course. Everyone was able to keep their power, too.
Our hearts go out to those still without power (or worse). Find a way to keep hydrated and keep cool, guys!
No power on Carolina yet
I dont believe the problwm is at the neighborhood level. I think its at the substations so there probably wont be a lot of visable crews. My guess is getting the parts may be the problem
Sunday morning, no power in Bedford since Friday, letter from Bedford City utility billing department dated March 16, 2012 letting us know that after negotiations with AEP, they will be our supplier and starting on or after April, 2012 we will have on average of 19.8 percent increase for electricity, thanks Bedford City and AEP.
Where I live in Salem our power was back on by 1030pm fri, only out for 30 min or so. I am very blessed, we don’t have any trees near our house so the worst thing for us was my lawn chairs in the neighbors yard. We headed out of town Sat and we were hoping to stop for breakfast before hitting 81, but everything was so packed!! The first rest stop north had no power and we saw limbs and stuff all the way up past Harrisonburg. Praying for those that don’t have power that it returns quickly!
#10 Kristen, my wife got a text with a warning from something or other she’s subscribed to about 30 minutes before the storm hit. My mother also called us because she was alarmed by the warnings she was seeing.
We never lost power just around the corner from danielle. But we have both of our parents here because they have no power. One would think that a retirement community with an average age of 86 would be high on the power restoration priority list. And, yes, I realize this is a historic number of folks without power and also that AEPO can’t borrow help from states like Md., W.Va., and Ohio.
No power here. Here’s my question.. Dominion Power has a site showing where their crews will be (https://www.dom.com/storm-center/crew-work-locations.jsp) Why doesn’t AEP? I would think it would be an easy way to stop irate customers from jamming their phone lines.
Thank goodness for friends, otherwise my pet and I would be sweating it out in my carriage house, as there’s no way I’d leave him to fend for himself while I went to a cooling center.
BTW, doesn’t troll Oliver/suzie have, like, backup generators or enough pull to get his power back on first?
We were very lucky not to lose power for more than a few seconds at a time on Friday night. We’re in Vinton, right up from the PFG plant.
Oh, I live in Wasena, on Hamilton.
Mountain Rd (not Ave) NW, still out. Next street over has power, which ironically means we’ll probably be the last to get it back… No one has even cleared the big tree down in the road on Summit Lane, even though that next street I mentioned (Caldwell) shows signs of extensive tree clearing work?!? If it was on the Salem side I’d understand, but both streets are in Roanoke City proper.
Very fortunate I never lost power at my house. Flickered a few times Friday night. I hope others get their power back on soon. (I’m in Mt Pleasant.)
Our power on Custis near McHarg Elementary in Radford came back on at 2 am Saturday. I know of people near the high school who still didn’t have it Saturday morning though!
Drove back to Roanoke from Morgantown WV yesterday. No power anywhere along I 79 or I 64 and no power means no functioning gas pumps at the stations. Numerous cars out of gas alongside the interstates. We ran out in Covington and waited it out in the shade of an abandoned storefront until my husband drove up from Roanoke with @ 5 gallons of gas.
Hundreds of trees down or split, highway signs folded over on themselves. Never seen anything like it. Heard that 52 of the 56 counties in WV have no power.
Still have juice here on Ellsworth in NE Roanoke, just off Williamson. During the winds Friday night, power went out 3 or 4 times for maybe 10 – 15 seconds each time. I thought I heard a transformer blow, but it turned out to be a crazy neighbor with firecrackers. I hope it wasn’t fireARMS!
The outages in Pulaski Co appear to be very spotty. My side of the street is still out. The neighbors across the street never lost power.
When you post updates or comments, please post time of day. On mobile browser it only shows day of post. 11:14am
Power came back on at appx. 6:50 P.M. in Grandin Court. Never so glad to hear an air conditioner start up. Expected a much longer wait. Kudos to Appalachian crews on this.
I’ve heard from some of my friends that towards Charlottesville that the power was back up first thing this morning, and then this round of storms just knocked it back down. Sounds like this is going to be a long run of misery for us all
Guess one good thing about living across the road from a fire station, the power was only off for about 2 minutes. No storm hit here.
You guys hang in there.
I had no idea it was this bad or widespread
until I read a few of these posts.
Goodness, it looks like you all had a nasty breeze while we were away. DC got blasted with this once-in-a-lifetime derecho. I don’t think God was amused by the 0bamacare decision.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Deadly-Derecho-Pummels-DC-Region-160959985.html
No power in North County Old Hollins Rd, Beaumont, Nell. AND in all my travels thru this area not a sign of a utility repair truck. WTF is is APCO??????
Vinton, Brookledge Subdivision. We are still without power.
Mine went out a little after 9PM on Friday night and came back on around 5PM on Saturday. My AC is messed up and is just barely
limping out some air. I would not have made a good pioneer!
A friend in Moneta is still without, a friend in Huddleston as well and Williamson Road area is still off too.
Rough weekend!
Where I live in Salem (Karen Hills), power was only out for about 30 minutes or so on Friday night. My parents in SW Roanoke, are still without power. Headed up to spend the day at Loch Haven yesterday, and they also have no power or water! It seems kind of spread out with clusters here and there without power.
joe the storm killed 13 people and there are still millions without power.
Power flickered a few times here in c’ville. Thankfully we didn’t lose power. I drove up to front royal yesterday through Washington, va and there were downed trees the whole way.v
most of rte 29 in c’ville had no power.
Mine went out for 10 seconds.
It never went out when Bush was President.
I know a lot of people have said this came up with no warning, but there was plenty of warning from the National Weather Service. I actually was aware of the potential that morning, thanks to some personal research and following weather info sites and Kevin Myatt’s blog. I pushed info on Facebook to friends and family all afternoon, hours ahead of it all, because storm reports were concerning, and the trajectory was pretty clearly bringing it to SWVA.
After getting home at 530, my wife and I sat on the front porch for a while, then went to the store just as the cloud tops were becoming visible. After returning from Kroger, I parked the cars at the street so they wouldn’t be under our trees, secured all the patio furniture, brought in the flag and our flamingos, and made sure any other loose items were secured…this was around 730. Around 8, I got the Severe Thunderstorm Warning notice on my phone, while we were cooking dinner. Just before 9, the winds kicked up and our power was flickering. We ate dinner using the light from an oil lamp, in case the power did go out, though thankfully, it did not.
The storms were moving fast, at nearly 60 mph, so when I got the warning notice, I had to do a double take since the radar showed it still well back in West Virginia. A lot of people were not prepared or aware of it, but it wasn’t due to a lack of information available, in my opinion. But, even with the advanced notice and info I had, the severity, longevity, and intensity of it all still surprised me a bit…it was like being in a hurricane in Virginia Beach, except without the rain.
My power still isn’t on. It went off right at 9 friday night, so that’s 40 plus hour so far. The frustrating thing is that half my block has power, and the next block down; the next street too. But the half of the block with my house, and the next block on that side… No dice. I barely slept last night, and tomorrow it’s back to work. At least there’s AC at work! This is the longest power outage I’ve experienced ( that I can remember).
I forgot to say where I live: two blocks off of Melrose, behind the Krispy Kreme.
Still not
back on.
Emissary Drive, north Roanoke
Been out of AEP since FRIDAY. What to do. We have just about cooked. This is in WIRTZ, VA.
Strange, we only lost power for about 20 minutes Friday night. Thought we where good. Then lost power Saturday around 11am. Came back on Sunday morning around 8am. Robinson tract area of PC.
On Airport Road in Blacksburg our power came back around 4 pm Saturday. I was prepared for the long haul, too, but I hit the jackpot. Many in town are still without power.
Power went out at Cornwallis Ave (SoRo) @ 9:30ish Fri night. Still nothing at 3pm Sunday. Yikes – moving towards 48 hrs.
Newborn in the house with us. We’re hanging in there, but I’m not sure our situation is tenable for a whole week. Praying it comes on sooner than that!
Still out on Bishop Rd in Blacksburg. No water either. Huge tree fallen over road and powerlines. No attempts yet to move it.
Walmart was packed this morning. Mostly people who don’t look like the usual customers at that particular store. Two reasons: their local store had no electricity, and it’s the first of the month. The clerk said there was a fight in this otherwise genteel store this morning. Thanks to the Food Stamp President for that.
So..union Krogers were shut down but private Walmart was prepared. Once again, WM serves the public when all others fail.
We live off Old Mountain Road in NE City, in the Sleepy Hollow subdivision. We never lost power, but my husband advised the lights flickered on & off during the worst part of the storm. I was at the movies at Valley View & had no idea what was going on until our movie cut off about 9:00. When they finally canceled the movie, it was awful trying to get out of Valley View.
My parents are in Garden City & have no power (since about 9:00 Friday night). I saw AEP trucks at the SE/Garden City substation yesterday, & I would guess Michael Howdyshell is right – they are working there first. My parents are camping out in their motor home in their driveway for now!
Henry, the power went out in the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, when Bush was president.
No power here off peters creek In North Roanoke County. One side has power the other (our side) has none. I did see about 10 power trucks at Valley View Walmart and Chik-Fila
#51 Gee, Oliver, the union Kroger I was in two hours ago was PACKED. And open. AND the stuff I bought there was cheaper than at Wally World.
Keep the lies coming.
#41 Possibly the most idiotic comment EVER from Henry. And that’s saying a lot when you consider what a slavish, drooling Free Republic worshiper he is.
Henry, perhaps you havent heard of the great black out of 2003.
Note that today marks another terribly bad prediction by suzie — when Roanoke instituted the temporary meals tax, Oliver guaranteed it would never be taken off again. Watch for troll girl at the chocolate fountain and endless cotton candy station.
Good God in Heaven, some people are just a waste of skin.
Your power are still out 134frances Dr nw
We live in North Roanoke County. Our power went out at 9:30 and didn’t come back on until last night at 9:50. Although I had to discard a lot food, I am grateful that it’s back on. Praying for others who are still in the dark in all of this heat.
No power yet on Maiden Lane (3rd block
Suzie,
How distasteful it must’ve been for you to rub elbows with all the “riffraff” at WalMart. However politics play no part in storms and power outages, no matter what Chairman Rush tells you. Perhaps there wouldn’t be so many needing food stamps to survive had the previous eight year Republican administration not totally wrecked the U.S. economy.
Sunset Village in Radford was out from about 8:30 Friday night until 1:00 pm Saturday afternoon. I’m feeling VERY lucky I have power today.
Extended power outages like these led me to install a propane powered generator at my former home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. If power was out for at least 30 minutes it would kick on and could run for at least 48 hours. Believe me it was easier to get a propane tank refilled than electricity back on.
We live in the Mill Mountain Estates/Garden City area in Roanoke. We didn’t lose power, thankfully. Cox phone, cable and internet were out until this morning around 10:00 a.m., but I feel fortunate to have had A/C throughout. I saw a disturbing sight at Towers an hour or so ago. The traffic signals have been out for almost 48 hours there, and I saw a nasty wreck at the corner of Brandon and Colonial. With all the traffic as everyone heads to work tomorrow, it will be a nightmare if the traffic signals aren’t working by then. Also, my mother lives near Towers and hasn’t had power since Friday night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Kroger store closed on any other day but Christmas, but the one at Towers was closed yesterday and as of 1:00 p.m. today.
The power is still out in the Roanoke County section of Woodbridge in Salem. The Salem part of the neighborhood has power.
We lost power in Goodview just after 915 Friday night. We partied at the lake (our HOA has a community dock) and grilled everything we could to get rid of what would go bad Saturday . Today we emptied the fridge/freezer and took it to the dump. Oh, forgot to mention no water either. Currently 448pm..aep says Thursday to Saturday for our area.
Wentworth Ave NE here and our whole neighborhood is down. Given the number of trees blocking roads and down lines in the area, I assume it will stay that way for a while.
Has anybody else noticed the tree leaning waaaay out over Williamson in front of Breckenridge School and stretching the power lines with it? Given the potential for damage, you would think it would be a priority.
You are so right Suzie…
God wasnt pleased by the politics
so he sent a Mexican style storm
from the Heavens and tortured the very
people who will benefit the most from it.
Do you talk for the sole purpose of hearing your head rattle?
You have gotten somewhere in life an overdose
of Robertson style blistered baby brain.
No power on Lincoln Ave in Raleigh Court since about 9:10 Friday night.
Villages at Garst Creek -power is still out as of 430PM Today
Roanoke, Mews Hill Drive.
If the storm was God’s judgment on ACA, I wonder what Katrina was about.
We live on Northwood Dr and our power has been out since Friday night. The Sheetz intersection up the street finally got power today. I was hoping we would be next.
No power for me. Went out Friday evening at about 9:15pm. Haven’t seen AEP trucks anywhere, either.
And on another note, hopefully this will show people that Bradford Pear trees are the Bic lighter of the landscaping world. One drive down Valley View Blvd should be all you need.
5:30 pm and still no power. Can’t find ice so the beer is hot. Where o where is AEP?
Suzie, how in hell can you make something political out of this? Jeez.
@Bill Perdue — They are not in Hollins.
No power at Glade Creek aptmts still off Orange Ave.
Bill@77
I have ice…if you can get to facebook… I sent you a mesage and phone number
Have only found ONE comical thing with all the coverage of this storm…
“porta potties/johns were blowing around the Capitol in DC…I thought
that was somehow quite significant…..
As of 530pm Sunday, no power at the Cotton Mill on 6th street SW. Weird that we’re half a block from the Kirk Y and they have power.
Our power on Greenbriar LN SE in Floyd County came back on shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday — a little over 14 hours after going out. Fortunately, our propane generator system kicked in automatically while we were gone Friday night and kept everything in the house running. At 6:20 p.m. Sunday, 1,785 homes and businesses — 19.l8 percent of the customer base — remained dark. We’re better off than Roanoke where I see 58 percent is still out.
Montvale VA lost power around 9:45pm Friday night & it is still off now Sunday evening 6pm. We have our own well, so no water either. The Bedford YMCA was packed today with overheated citizens…the shower line was long but everyone was so cordial & happy to be in an air conditioned room. There is no ice to be found, but the Y let me fill my 2 large thermos jugs with fresh glorius clean water! We are staying in our basement where it’s a little cooler than upstairs. All food in fridge gone to waste, saddly. We got our camp stove out & can make fresh coffee. So we are pretending we’re camping. I think this is going to last until July 7 – that’s when AEP expects to be finished. Good thing I washed all the laundry last week!
Powed has been out in Plantation Oaks subdivision (just off Plantation Road north of Hershberger intersection in North County) since around 9:00 Friday evening. Several sources report it could be Saturday before we get it back. Anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes AEP to use this for an excuse for a rate increase? 7:01 pm.
If the storm was God’s judgment on ACA, I wonder what Katrina was about.
Katrina was about a bunch of dumb liberals in power in Louisiana who failed to use the money they were alloted to fix their levees. In addition to sudden strikes against those who harm His people, God also has a tendency to punish idiots who make dumb decisions.
Tom,,Im Slightly off topic…
But down here in Texas people are
using Bradford Pear for BBQ and smoking
wood. They say it imparts a bit of sweetness.
Ive not tried it. As long as it doesnt taste
like Cedar I-d try to swallow it.
Nows the time for the entrepeneur spirit!!
..
Hopefully you guys will get some cooling rains tonight.
Tom…do u mean that they burned?
Or just that people just picked them
up and slipped them in their pockets?
(bad joke disclaimer insert here)
Ours is still not on in Woodbridge subdivision in Salem. Have not even seen an AEP truck in the area.
Re: Comment by Cold n P — July 1, 2012 @ 2:48 pm
Yup.
I just realized that my earlier comment could have been read to suggest that I was only talking about my street.
I have driven around PC — as well as some of MC & Radford.
Not much significant wide-spread structural damage. [However, when it happens to you it is 100% -- regardless of the rest of the area or other folks experence.]
Generally the outages appear to be very localized and spotty in PC.
Ditto, businesses — my local Wal~Mart was closed, my local Kroger was open. This shopping center was closed, that one was open.
Spreading the net a bit wider:
1) Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County was operating on generator power,
2) Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and LewisGale Medical Center has not experienced power outages.
Bottom line:
Advice for who jumps to conclusions as to God’s judgement on who had outages or the timing of the storm, or who was spared / not spared:
1) You need to check into a mental health unit somewhere.
2) Those voices you are hearing are not from the all-seeing, almighty, infinite, knowledgeable, pansophical, preeminent, wise omniscient, omnipotent source you seem to believe that they are.
Not on yet on Harmony, off Garst Mill. FEMA needs to bring ice, all stores are out.
I’m just glad Screwzie is able to post from the cooling center. I guess pammalapdog has no power at the trailer park.
#80 Well, I know that they got power back to two retirement communities today, Brandon Oaks and Glen Ivy. Also saw that power has returned to the section of Brandon from Edgewood down to the about Peters Creek, although the light at Peters Creek was still out.
How does one go about signing up for these weather notices via text messaging. I’d like to be among those “in the know” next time!
We just hit 48 hours without power off Grandview Ave. in NW Roanoke. We were in Bath Co when the storm hit and my family up there has no power or phone. This is much worse than some people realize.
Re: Comment by Bill Perdue — July 1, 2012 @ 5:43 pm
Bill,
She/he can’t. It’s just part of her/his delusion and lack of empathy as a result of diminished emotional capacity.
Wirtz Road: off at 9:36pm Friday night, back on 1 to 1:30pm Saturday afternoon.
I was very surprised that we never actually lost power. Lots of blips and off/ons, but never actually lost it. (Yet.) We are out here on Absalom Smith Road near Bennett Springs and Whispering Pines Park.
No power on my side of Plantation in North County. My brother-in-law works for NASA and says that NASA does not have power.
Still out on Greenlawn NW, just off Williamson. Haven’t seen a single AEP truck in our area since Friday night. (9 pm Sunday)
My husband and I are some of the lucky ones. We only lost power on Friday night for less than a minute. We live on Howbert in Waseana. My Mom on the other hand was not so lucky and is still without power in South Roanoke on Longview. My job also still does not have power over by the hospital on McClanahan. My husband and I know just how lucky we are and are praying for and thinking of those less fortunate than us.
Huddleston past State Park Southside Electric. Power back on this morning at 830 am still some places at the lake without power.
We live on 6203 Scotford Court, Roanoke, 24018. Power has been out since the storm hit. We lost all our food and have 2 pets. Half the neighborhood is restored – our half is not. Why? This is beyond frustrating. AEP worked to fix our grid years ago – what didn’t work?
Very lucky on Avenel Ave, the power flickered several times Friday night but we never lost it for more than a couple minutes.
Hey Dan, here near Shenandoah Avenue and Peters Creek in NW Roanoke, we were among the lucky ones, our power flickered a couple times and that was it, although many people immediately around us still don’t have power.
Phil…
One of the great things about living in
Va is the trees..and another is the Sweet Va Breeze.
But a strong breeze amongst those trees can make
for a bad mix. A perfect grid might be all underground..
But dont count on it in this century.
I should add that my family living near Garst Mill Park came over to our place for a while as they still don’t have power.
This is bad. Dont know how anyone could make this political. This is the time we need to pull together as a communiry. We are out of power but fortunate enough to have other avenues available. My heart goes out to those that dont have any options. God speed to the APCO employees and their contractors.
Our power was back Saturday night. I was surprised, I didn’t expect to have power before Wednesday. I had gone out Saturday and bought batteries, lights, etc. We live in an area with lots of big, very old, oak trees and it doesn’t take a big storm for us to lose electricity. We’re going to check on getting a generator.
#95 Kimberley, you can probably sign up for those text alerts at many places, but my wife’s came through WDBJ. Go to weather at their website and there’s a link to sign up for alerts.
Its not back yet. Off garst mill rd larspn oaks área .
Floraland Dr NW still out, lines still down and trees in main lines,Doesn’t look good,with Mom bedridden and a little generator, its misery.
@Chris on Plantation…
NASA??
NASA where?
Out of town, but from what I understand my neighborhood (Broadway, Roanoke) hasn’t had power since Friday.
Well, our run of luck came to an end…we lost poorer just before midnight in this latest round of storms, New River area of Pulaski County…already put in a report to AEP…thank goodness for fully charged smart phones.
Mike Scott saved the day. He called me and gave us ICE! Thank you Mike!
The timing on all this was so bad/good! Our son was flying in from wintry New Zealand (his home for the last 11 years! Drove to DC Dulles to pick him up yesterday all the while trying to figure out what to do when we returned with him to a 94 degree house (the reading on our hall thermostat) with no power. He hadn’t been here in 3 years …. and this is how we were treating him. Trying to keep a sense of humor about it all but difficult! We pulled into the driveway at 7pm to see the water feature in the front yard spouting a nice stream …. the pump was working! What a beautiful sight!! Power here (upper Toddsbury, Vinton) restored at 6pm Sunday. We are still euphoric!
Not only is our power still out, I have seen exactly ONE Appalachian Power truck since the storm. And that includes all the driving I did trying to find ice or a generator. I take back all the good things I used to say about APCO. I just hope I don’t see a surcharge on my bill next month for all the power I didn’t use.
Westover Ave SW near Woodrow Wilson. Still not back on
Along with us, Walmart in Fairlawn has no power, not does much of anything in Fairlawn for that matter.
AEP is estimating Wednesday at the earliest, or by Friday at the latest.
Glad we have a lot of camping supplies and plenty of propane and charcoal. We lived in our house for a month with no power or running water when it was being built…but that was in December 2007…
Thankfully though, a friend with power said we can haul our chest freezer to their place and plug it in to save our food.
#121 You’re obviously lying, OJ, when you say Walmart is out of power. According to Oliver, Walmart is the savior of the world and never loses power because because it’s non-union. Maybe too many of the Fairlawn workers harbor union sympathies.
#119 Not that it really matters, but I’ve seen NUMEROUS Apco trucks since Friday. I know it’s easy for me to be calm since I have power, but, folks, you’ve got to remember that not only is this the worst power outage Apco’s ever dealt with, but the rest of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio are also in trouble, and those are the places Apco often borrows crews from to help out in an emergency. Instead, they had to round up folks from as far away as Louisiana. And remember that the crews are human, as well. They can’t work nonstop for days and in fact have to rest at certain intervals for safety reasons. A groggy lineman might end up as an electrocuted lineman. In addition, that heat that’s bothering you as you sit on your back porch is even worse for them as they labor in the direct sun.
Wow, the debris and damage is painful. Still no power on 460E area after the Hardees at Gus Nicks. Police are manning the big intersections, many businesses without power. My power is still on after the original 20 hours without, but my AC is crippled and one of my water pumps is apparently fried. Thank God for a cool morning and a breeze and for the fan that will help me bear the heat to come.
If you never lost power, you should count your blessings. If you are still without, you have my sympathy. We carried what little ice we had to a friend yesterday. Lost all the stuff in my fridge but saved the freezer stuff. Mike Scott, way to go helping Bill! We have some great people on this blog! And of course some real and true losers, regardless of their power situation!
I agree with Lindsey, “This is much worse than some people realize”.
True colors.
Monday morning and still no power on the north side of Maiden Lane (Raleigh Court, Roanoke). Power never went out across the street on the south side. Sadly, we are on the north side.
gdad, I know. I know. But the power goes out A LOT at our house, for hours at a time. I estimate we have had significant outages 10 – 12 times in three years. This one’s the straw… We lived at our last address (also served by APCO) for 20 years and had 1 or 2 outages in that time.
I’ve seen numerous AEP, Pike, and Asplundh trucks rumbling around all weekend, I’m hoping they can get our power restored quickly, but they’ve got their hands full with half their Virginia and West Virginia customers down right now.
#26 Don’t know where you live, old blue, but I know others with the same complaint. Usually, of course, they live in more rural or isolated places where there’s just one electrical route in and out and plenty of foliage to fall on the lines. OTOH, I live smack dab in the city and our little section of block seems to lose power less often than sections right next to us. No idea why.
#126 old blue, our power goes out a lot too. We just have too many trees in the area. A little wind and the tree limbs hit the lines. But, I know people in neighborhoods with buried lines and they lose power too. Unless ALL lines are underground it doesn’t help too much just to have the ones near your house underground. Hope you get your power on soon.
If you never lost power, you should count your blessings. If you are still without, you have my sympathy. We carried what little ice we had to a friend yesterday. Lost all the stuff in my fridge but saved the freezer stuff. Mike Scott, way to go helping Bill! We have some great people on this blog! And of course some real and true losers, regardless of their power situation!
Never a compliment without a zinger. Which negates the entire ‘compliment’.
I think this episode reinforces the desperate need America has for fossil fuels which supply the electricity in this country.
Let’s say no to cap and trade. Oh wait. 0bama can now affix unilaterally affix a tax on everybody by executive order for any purpose he chooses. That’s what last Thursday gave us.
#129 Just read an article about how most of the U.S. won’t bury lines because the companies say it’s too expensive (although research shows it’s not nearly as expensive as power companies claim and one has to wonder how much they’d save on repair efforts like this one). Meanwhile, places like Germany almost never lose power. This becomes more important as baby boomers age.
#130 Of course it doesn’t negate it, especially not when the first comment by its target (you) was a bit of trolling political nastiness.
Does anyone know when Roanoke City is expected to come back on? I am seeing estimates of Saturday for Roanoke County, but nothing about the City. Does anyone know anything? Thanks.
@87
“In addition to sudden strikes against those who harm His people, God also has a tendency to punish idiots who make dumb decisions.”
So, exactly how is it you tell if God is punishing people, or if the negative consequences are purely the result of a poor decision? You know, you it isn’t necessary to a supernatural agent of punishment when a poor decision in the material world will provide a similar result.
Still one of the 40% of the folk here in Pulaski Co w/o power.
Burying existing utility lines in built-up areas is very, very expensive. But burying them from the start is not much more costly than putting in overhead systems.
My grid back in Virgins Beach went out all the time, even when neighboring grids were still up…storm or no storm. After 15 years, Dominion finally traced it to a faulty substation part that kept causing the breakers on the grid to kick.
That should say Virginia Beach…darn smart phone swype…
9:45am – Arlington Rd still out
Sue-I was wondering the same thing. Everything on roanoke.com and on AEP’s website talks about Roanoke County but no one mentions Roanoke City.
But, Roanoke city is still 44,000 down so does that mean we’ll be taken care of first since the numbers are higher? Or should we consider ourselves lumped in Roanoke County? I hope not…
#140 According to what I just read by Mason Adams, it’s 44,000 combined in the city and the county.
You know, if a man owned an ice cube farm about now he would be very popular
Suzie, @131, no, this doesn’t say we need to say no to cap and trade, it says we need to say no to trees! Which, of course, is probably more inflammatory to the left wing.
And, oh, yeah, northern Montgomery County is still out, but learning to deal with it. The ‘fridge (both of them, actually the beer fridge, too) is clean, all freezers defrosted, and I’ve become quite the chainsaw expert.
I must have misread but that still doesn’t give us any information about the city.
#145 Their chart says 25,000 out in the city and 20,000 out in the county. The county number actually went UP overnight. I assume that part of the county caught a new storm last night.
#131 Of course this episode says nothing at all about fossil fuels. What a dolt.
“In addition to sudden strikes against those who harm His people, God also has a tendency to punish idiots who make dumb decisions.”
Then why hasn’t he dropped a tree on Limpballs?
Why does God let those Zimbabweans you care soooo much about starve to death? Does he think they’re ‘idiots’ who can’t make a decision to move to where there is food?
Re: Comment by Kim — July 2, 2012 @ 11:54 am
Keep an eye on:
http://tinyurl.com/cult4tp
———-
BTW, the outage #s for Pulaski Co. have gone up slightly since my last comment. Looks as if some of the storm damage from last night’s boomer are slow being reported/recorded.
Dan Casey–can you use your investigative talents to find some information for residents of Roanoke City about when their power might come back on? Are we being lumped in with Roanoke County? If not, what’s the approximate timetable for service restoration in the City? Thanks!
We live on warwood drive off of sugarloaf mountain road and we have power. I was going to compliant about not having internet till I read this blog and other articles. hope power lines are restored soon for everybody.
My wife called and said our power just came back on, so just about 13 hours and AEP got it restored. Not too shabby.
Cut those folks a little slack though, half their service area is down, it’s going to take a while.
In the meantime, party like it’s 1799!
No electricity yet in Fairway Forest.
God hates us.
Lights back on Alum Spring Rd. in Pulaski Co. Worst wind last night I’ve seen in my 32 years of living here.
Saw, tote, rake. Repeat.
I live on Starkey Rd and managed to have power all weekend but lost it about 115 this morning in the midst of the storm. Haven’t been home since 715(thankfully my job has power or is using the back up generator one…) but would assume it’s still out.
OK, Mike, that’s funny.
Still no power in the Hardy section of Franklin co. where we live and am yet to see an APCo truck anywhere close by. Those guys have their work cut out for them for sure…what a nightmare. My family and I are some of the fortunate ones who have some where to go for relief thanks to the kindness of a dear friend who let us relocate to his deceased parents house that is currently vacant. There are so many desperate souls that do not have such help so I count my blessings as we all should.
Speaking of counting blessings, I’ve been busy doing just that every hour on the hour since Friday night’s storm. I had my son’s Boy Scouts troop at camp (Up OJ’s way) and we were in the middle of our closing ceremony at the open ampitheatre Friday evening beside the camp lake when the storm hit. 350 Scouts and probably 100 adult leaders were sitting ducks with the closest sturdy structure being a mile and a quarter away at the camp dining hall. By the grace of God the adult leaders were able to get all the kids off the waterfront and safely to the dining hall without any serious injuries but alot of frazzled nerves and crying first year campers. As fast as it happened there was no time to really think about what a dangerous situation we were in, but now that there’s been time to look back at it and think about what could have happened to some of those kids you won’t be hearing me complain at all about my current situation. Count your blessings folks.
@157 – I was basking in the sun in the lower sections of max creek saturday afternoon – you probably passed us by. Did the camp survive ok? Saw a few trees down around the creek…but didn’t venture up as far as the camp.
157
Amen to that.
We were camping in Natural Bridge on the James when it hit. Four children under 7. We are very lucky to have escaped without major injuries as there were many branches and trees flying everywhere. Someone could very easily have been killed.
I got smashed in the eye buy my tent, no major injury.
Kids were put in truck immediately. No other cover available. Scariest event I can remember.
Nonstop prayer as I packed truck and drove home at midnight.
A lot of whining from a bunch of folks whose biggest problem is not having any power several days after a storm. Maybe most should be glad they didn’t lose their entire house or their life. Perhaps your fine and outstanding leadership-class of governor McDonnell and mayor Bowers can fix it all very soon. Have they given y’all the phone number to call for help, 1-800-621-fema?
My power is still off. Because of that, my husband and I decided to try to find a location with WiFi and a/C where we could check e-mails and surf the web.
We are currently all set up with our laptops at a table in the upper level of the Roanoke City Market Building. A few moments ago, a security guard came over, and with a very nasty attitude, told us that we cannot “set up shop” here and if we don’t intend to purchase something we will have to leave.
I thought this was a city owned, public building, with public WiFi availability, open to anyone who wants to come in. In fact, on the Roanoke City Market Facebook page they have been posting that they are “”open, have AC and come on down… not a mention about *minimum purchase required. There are NO other people in the area where we are sitting.
Even if that were not the case…. It is 100 degrees outside, the City has declared a State of Emergency, and many folks have no power, including us. Does the City really want to be accused of kicking people out of the Market Building under those conditions? I can afford to buy food and intended to, but many, who need to seek shelter from the heat, cannot.
Shame on Roanoke for adopting this attitude toward its citizens.
#161 Sorry your power is still lout, Lynda, and sorry for the ugly attitude. No matter what the “normal” policy, these are different times right now.
Understand the devil is advertising for an assistant. Suggest Suzie go to immediately apply. For the. Job address is help
ThaT address is hell
@Lynda K:
I say we all go and OCCUPY MARKET BUILDING!
(I’m not making a joke at your expense, Lynda. It’s ridiculous that he told you to purchase something or leave. I would have found a vendor who sold drinks with free refills and bought one and nursed that baby till they locked the doors tonight.)
I read on Amanda’s blog that NAPA Auto Parts is getting 60 generators today and are open til 7.
Comment by William Bova — July 2, 2012 @ 3:01 pm
1) Most folk are just being factual. Not a lot of whining — except for those trying to make a political thread out of a truly non-political thread.
2) Those few that might be complaining about the handling of the situation are targeting private owned businesses for criticism — not the goverment at any level. So, again, as it is commercial not goverment entities it is not political.
Get a life.
Does anyone believe that the Obama administration knew this was going to happen and didn’t take adequate steps to help the citizens who would be affected?
Hummm… neither do I ….
But hey, isn’t that what they said about Bush and Katrina?
(could someone keep those damn chickens from coming home to roost?)
Re: Comment by Huntersdad — July 2, 2012 @ 2:11 pm
“Speaking of Speaking of counting blessings, I’ve been busy doing just that every hour on the hour since Friday night’s storm. , I’ve been busy doing just that every hour on the hour since Friday night’s storm.”
———–
Huntersdad,
Glad you all made it OK.
IMHO, we all should be counting our blessings, I know I have.
From what I have seen, there was very little widespread structural damage. [When it is you that lose a home, it is a 100%. So, I'm not minimizing it where it has happened.] And there has been life lost.
IMHO, it is time for thanksgiving on the part of those of us who came through relativity unscathed and empathy for those with serious loses.
——–
FWIIW, I have been through hurricanes — very bad ones. I have seen the aftermath of large killer tornados and wind-driven forest fires — up close and personal.
Yes, it is time to be counting our blessings.
#131 Of course this episode says nothing at all about fossil fuels. What a dolt.
Gdad has no idea how electricity is produced. What a dolt.
6:23 pm Monday
Bill Perdue reporting from Arlington Rd SW. Still no power but thanks to Mike Scott’s ice, I am having a cold beer. Thank you again Mike!
6:23 pm Monday
Bill Perdue reporting from Arlington Rd SW. Still no power but thanks to Mike Scott’s ice, I am having a cold beer. Thank you again Mike!
You know, I seem to remember President Obama saying that the power grid needs updating and that would be a good use of stimulus funds. I think I’m sold on that idea right now.
I am very thankful that my family and friends all seem to have come through this with minimal damage. It was quite the event out there Friday night. I am also grateful to all the emergency crews who responded to the fires, transformer explosions, power lines across cars and homes, blocked roads, etc. Kudos also to the utility crews who have put in countless hours trying to restore power to the millions of people whose service has been disrupted. It is always frustrating when you lose the basics we have come to take for granted, and it easy to criticize, but given the magnitude of this event, the storm left a swath of damage at least 240 miles wide and travelled all the way from the northern Indiana to coast. When you consider that, it is actually pretty impressive that the estimates for restoration of service are only one week, despite those who want to criticize AEP and others for their poor response and lack of preparation.
Speaking of Katrina, this blog is a microcosm of that same mentality, and why things can deteriorate quickly. When a crisis hits, some are “prepared”, some are not, some have a place to go, some have no way to get anywhere, some have patience and maintain some dignity and some go off and blame and insult, some help or at least offer to help others, some just whine and make fun of people. More like Katrina than some may want to admit because they know their behavior and demeanor have been an example of the worst we have to offer.
From what I have been hearing, crowds of people panicked and were unsure what to do…just like Katrina. Some kept their cool and helped others, some buried their heads in their ‘it’s not my problem’ sand. Some were concerned for others, some were mad that others were in their way or inconvenienced them. Some remembered the traffic and humanity rules, some ignored both.
Don’t kid yourselves, we are not as evolved as we should be and some are determined to remind us of that, crisis or not.
When we have these extended outages and have all these crews and overtime to pay (and these dudes make gooood money), I often wonder if it would have been worth it to put more lines underground?
Just as we invested, at the urging of Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, in the interstate highway system in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, we should invest in putting power lines underground over the next 20 years. It will be costly, but worth the investment. This needs to be tied to upgrading the power grid itself to account for new sources of electric power. As we do this we also need to put pipelines to accomodate fiber along interstate and state highways to bring modern methods of communication across our country. We built the rail system in the 19th century so this type of governmental investment is not new.
Sandi,
Who are the “we” that you suggest are not “evolved”? (might you expound on what part of society that is?)
I would posit that most of us (the we’s) who grew up believing that it is our obligation, as neighbors and friends to help others, do so without hesitation; many who have become convinced that (help) is the government’s responsibility easily and conveniently turn a blind eye to others in need.
So many (particularly liberals) make fun of the “rugged individualists” who believe in personal responsibility, but I would suggest the same might not have turned away help from those with chain saws (etc…) who enabled those confined, to find freedom when government assistance like 911 was unavailable to them in their time of need.
It seems you might agree that this situation proves to only a small extent, the reality that “big government” is not the solution to all problems, and in this case, relatively “small problems”.
It might serve us all to remember that when we make bold suggestions like “our neighbors shouldn’t own guns (etc…) (or the police will always be there or the government will quickly resolve our situation); that we may one day need our “rugged” neighbors to help us because our 911 service is not working, and the only 911 we have is one another.
Who would have thought that a simple “windstorm” might take away our “power” for a week (or more), that grocery stores might not have foodstocks or water, that we might actually consider accepting the invitation from that “crazy bastard” down the street who grows chickens (and has dug his own well,) for the next meal for our children.
Extreme circumstances enables us to think in the extreme…
I don’t know who you suggest are the “we” that are not “evolved” but…
I hope should you ever need people like us who are “evolved” you can rest assured, should you need us we will be there to help..
Still without power in Wasena, on Hamilton. I’m still camped out at a friend’s place.
I keep stopping by my house, checking in for a change in circumstance, and no joy
My power is still out in Hollins.
@Sandi — Sorry to hear about your AC. I hope mine comes back on and works. I have lots of equipment in my house that is sensitive to things like this. I don’t know how it was where you live, but where I live the power went on and off about eight times over the course of twenty seconds. I cringed.
I’m typically a bit more stressed about the power coming back on than I am about it being off.
Lived thru the third day w/o power or water. Not so bad. . Went to ymca for shower; mcd’s for breakfast, library for news; theater at valley view for entertainment & cooling; kroger for deli food. Sitting on my deck now playing cards in the cool summer night air & listening to the hum of generators. Not mine. Darn.
Power back on in Woodlake section of Goodview. Came on around 2:30pm today (Monday). Internet back on at 8:30pm but still no phone. Estimate is 9pm Tuesday. Funny thing about the earlier comments about ice….my wife was at the store Sat morning buying about 50-60 lbs of ice..someone mentioned she must be where there’s no power. While that was the case, she decided not to tell them it was to keep all of our beer cold
For everyone still waiting for power, good luck and stay cool!
Thanx for making my point about whining, Dave Hicks, whiner!
Comment by William Bova — July 2, 2012 @ 3:01 pm
1) Most folk are just being factual. Not a lot of whining — except for those trying to make a political thread out of a truly non-political thread.
2) Those few that might be complaining about the handling of the situation are targeting private owned businesses for criticism — not the goverment at any level. So, again, as it is commercial not goverment entities it is not political.
Get a life.
Comment by Dave Hicks — July 2, 2012 @ 5:32 pm
#170 As I said, this episode says nothing about getting more fossil fuels. Unless suzie thinks a lack of fossil fuels caused the high winds. What a dolt.
Any reports on power in Montvale and Bedford County?
Mike O…
Maybe its just my take on your diatribe..
But it appears it was more about you shaking a finger
at ones against who you hold a grudge than an offer
to really help someone.
Thats the tone that I hear anyway.
Sounds like you expect them to owe you before you’ve lifted
an altruistic finger…simply for just existing as a rugged man.
#170 As I said, this episode says nothing about getting more fossil fuels. Unless suzie thinks a lack of fossil fuels caused the high winds.
What this experience has taught us is we can’t do without electricity, and we can’t make the electricity we use without fossil fuels. So therefore in a normal world, environmentalist WHACKS who demand we shut down coal mines and scream for cap and tax should be fully discredited.
Got it now, Skippy?
We got power back yesyerday about 2 30 at home and 12 00 at office both in Roanoke City. Nice to be back home. We were very fortunate.
Mike O, did you need a pat on the back that bad? Seriously, that was just embarrassing. The day I need “help” from the sanctimonious likes of you is the day I give up and die.
Power back on in my neighborhood, although another tree was down across most of the road this morning. Fortunately it did not hit any power lines.
#186 It taught “us” nothing of the kind, toots. Funny to bait you into a yet another reply, though.
And look, there are two people using “Skippy.” I wonder why that is, and why one of them has suddenly disappeared just as the other one returned?
#177 Gee, mike O, I’ll get back to you when I need a live chicken for dinner. Bu I can just use my own chainsaw.
My house has been without power since Friday night along with a lot of other folks around Roanoke. I am probably a lot luckier than a lot of folks. I have limited power, because I bought a generator this past winter when I lost power during a heavy snow storm. This is the 3rd time in 6 months that I have lost power. The first time was for 2 and half days, that is when I purchased the generator. It has now been over 3 days and counting since we lost power. What I would like to know is why we have not seen any AEP trucks? I have not seen one since we lost power. Why is AEP not making Roanoke a priority? There are a lot of businesses around Roanoke that are losing a lot of business because of the outage. Towers, Tanglewood, and a lot traffic lights are still out. With the traffic lights out a lot of police offices have been demoted to a temporary traffic cop. The newspaper mentions that power will not be restored to Roanoke County until Saturday night. I assume since they don’t mention Roanoke City, Salem City, and Vinton they lump them together in Roanoke County, which is confusing because we have 4 different tax bases between the 4. Well I guess I will keep spending $40 a day for gas to keep my generator going, keep sleeping in the basement to stay cool and go to 7-11 every morning for coffee. I am thankful for what I have and realize this is only a temporary situation, but I have to vent my frustration with the information we are given by AEP and the newspaper.
To the people wondering why Roanoke is being neglected by AEP:
I was just looking at the AEP and Dominion Power Numbers:
AEP: 34.6% without power 350,231 out of 1,011,685 customers.
(88.8% of Fayette Co WV, and 98% of Greenbrier Co WV are without power, WOW! 26% of Virginia customers without power, 48.5% of WV customers without power. I’d say Virginia is getting much more attention than WV, and WV has only 90K less customers than VA.)
Dominion: 5.4% without power: 133,487 out of 2,458,276 customers.
(hardest hit region percentage-wise: The Charlottesville region with 18% still without power)
PEPCO: 15.1% without power: 120,041 out of 792,702 customers.
I’d be pretty pissed if I was still an AEP customer. The geographic area is much larger and more rural, but they have to be doing some more preventative maintenance on lines with all those rate hikes, rather than throwing all that money into anti-environmental lobbying on K Street.
Power restored to the Williamson Rd. Noble Ave. area Sunday evening.
Day 4……still no power in the Norwood Forest area of Rke City. Haven ‘t seen one darn Aep truck up here either. May I mention that the METER READER was up here bright and early yesterday morning though.
Still no power on 6th Street in Old Southwest as of 10:30 am 7/3.
My Church just sent an email that says the Jefferson Center, Fitzpatrick Hall (where we meet on Sundays) is giving away FREE ICE! Bring a cooler.
#195 Meter readers still have a job to do. They’re not trained or qualified to handle electricity.
Day 4 of no power, water, or land Line service in Montvale, Bedford County. Starting to feel like this is the new normal.
gdad wrote: “Meter readers still have a job to do”.
Regarding AEP linemen and other crisis responders, I’m reminded of this stanza about problems at one’s address, by bluesman Brownie McGhee (a good friend of Andy Griffith’s who appeared on Matlock and one of Griffith’s music albums); it nicely sums up the attitude that I think we should have toward those who are only trying to help:
I’m living in Bluesville, down on Blues Avenue,
I’m living in Bluesville, down on Blues Avenue,
But I ain’t gonna blame the mailman, he has a job to do.
Re: Comment by William Bova — July 2, 2012 @ 10:59 pm
———-
William,
Please define “whining”, as you are using the word, and explain where you think that I have whined.
Power back up in the Westlake area of Franklin County.(Tuesday 3pm)..never saw any AEP, but a company evidently “outsourced” from North Carolina was working on the downed power lines,
[never heard of this company before]. We were in Roanoke, Roanoke City, Bedford and of course Rocky Mount and NEVER saw one AEP truck – not one. Where the heck have they been?
This has to be the most incompetently managed wind damage storm ever. AEP is calling it an “historical” storm…are they kidding me? Katrina was historical – this blip on the weather map, just magnified the mismanagement and ill use of resources from what should be a public utility – ever asking for more rate increases, not to provide better customer service, but put more money in the pocket of shareholders and upper management. Outrageous.
#202 Ummm, Hillary, it was historical for THIS area and for AEP. A higher percentage of their customers out than ever in their history, including Katrina.
Power still out on Greenlawn NW, near Williamson. Haven’t seen a single power truck in this area for four days. The garbage truck was here right on time this a.m. to haul off the spoiled food from my fridge, though. (6 pm 7/3).
6:00 pm Tuesday
Reporting from Arlington Rd SW
Still no power
Interesting story:
One of my coworker’s husband is a nuclear engineer at Areva, Lynchburg. After the storm, their CEO ordered several semi truck loads of ice. Areva employees got first dibs and then they went door-to-door in the community giving it away. Talk about good community relations!
Just an addendum on Walmart..here in the NRV, the stores in Wytheville, Christiansburg, and Dublin all lost power from the Friday storm, and lost their cold foods. The Fairlawn Walmart was jammed over the weekend, then they lost power Sunday night, and with it all their cold foods. They still have not restocked.
Interesting, Bill, a good friend of mine from high school and college works for Areva. That is pretty stellar of them, thanks for sharing.
Three days, 47 hours and 40 some minutes (not that I was counting)
.
.
and we are back on the grid.
.
Hope the all rest of you can report the same soon.
Duh my last.
That should have been “Three days, 23 hours and 40 some minutes.”
See I was right that I wasn’t counting.
Could it have been the days just felt like 48 hours????
@gdad: “A higher percentage of their customers out than ever in their history, including Katrina.”
Because they spend the money we send them poorly.
Congrats, Dave Hicks!
Monday 1:30AM. I would like to give a big Thanks to APCO, my neighbor who works for APCO. Especially the crew from Chattanooga, TN that drove up early Sunday morning and worked all afternoon and until 1:30 AM that night removing very large trees and replacing a broken pole and downed lines. They finished about 10 minutes before the Sunday night Storm hit. I knew this was epic when I asked my neighbor who has worked for APCO since 78 if it was worse than the ice storm of 79 (the storm that Super Bowl weekend) and he said probably the worst storm to hit this region in AEP history. FUBAR!
10:20 PM – Arlington Rd. Still no power. Nice and quiet though
Kurt, you have our sympathies.
Does anyone know if AEP, Southside, whomever has the outages, have hired tree companies, asked for volunteers, are getting help from firefighters, localities, national guard or any other party in clearing the debris and downed trees or do they have to “do it all” so to speak?
#210 Right, Jack, right.
#206 But, OJ, we were told that Walmart was the savior of the whole area and Kroger was crap. Walmart NEVER lost power and even if it somehow did they had a super-secret plan powered by non-union workers.
7:49 am still no power as of last night in Wasena. I need to make the journey into the city to check this morning. My neighbors haven’t called with screams of delight, so I’m going to assume we’re still without. I’m going to look into squatters rights soon… I’m thinking I like my friend’s house better than my own.
The power here in Montgomery County went off about 9pm on Friday. I waited till about noon on Saturday to report the outage and hopefully find out how long it might be off. The information was glum and hearing that 567k customers were without gave me some indication that it might be quite a while.
I’ve got plenty of experience with doing without electricity. Not as much during hot weather and my main concern was food in the frig/freezer. I didn’t open it until 19 hours had passed, just to check the status of frozen food. It was still mostly frozen so it was worth a trip to the closest country store, 4 miles away. Luckily, the store had never lost power, and lucky for me, the ice supply hadn’t sold out yet. I predicted the power would be on before I got home with it. I was wrong, it came on a half hour later. That was about 5pm Saturday.
A cautionary note is to say it was off again for 4 hours on Monday, and 4 hours on Tuesday. It’s possible it was off when I was sleeping. So, I wouldn’t restock too many perishables until everyone is back online and things are more stable. Even without the storm damage, it’s brownout season with these high temperatures.
Talked to my sister who lives on Dewey Road in Montvale on July 3 at 6:30pm and she still had no power and no time frame from the power company on when it would come back on. No one had even come by to fix the downed power lines in her area yet.
1pm – we have power on Arlington ! Yippee ! Thanks AEP!
Eee! I HAVE POWER! It came back at about noon today on Hamilton road in Wasena. I was out buying a new car when I got the text message of joy.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.
THANK YOU APCO workers for all of your hard work. Thank you SO MUCH.
Re: today’s RT story Storm means big wins, big losses for area businesses
Just talked to my certified generator maintenance contractor. left a voice mail message yesterday that I needed to schedule a 100 hour maintenance, following the outage. To my amazement he called back today.
He said that he has calls from folk who said that they had 10 year old machines and didn’t know that they need routine maintenance. Anyone want to bet he doesn’t gets some new business?
For those you just bought new gasoline powered, please read the shut-down-for-storage instructions in the owners manual.
Sigh. Fifth day in Bedford Co w/o power, water, or land line…..night is falling bringing welcome cool air. Cooked hotdogs over the Coleman open flame burner & toasted our good fortune to be American where these inconvenient living conditions are only temporary.
Day six and no power at home in our section of Hardy in Franklin Co. One of my neighbors spoke with someone with one of the subcontractors to AEP and was given the time line for our street….possible that it could be Monday or Tuesday for us to see our power restored. It was announced this morning that an additional 750 workers have been dispatched to the Roanoke valley and surrounding areas and we’re hoping they’ll send some our way and get things back on line sooner than that. We have a huge oak tree at the entrance of our neighborhood that took out the lines Friday that has not been touched by anyone except the neighbors who cut a passage through it….still lying there in one huge tangled mess of branches, power lines and support cables. They will get to us eventually I guess.
Still no power for us and many others in So Ro. We’ve been out since Friday night. Trying to keep things frozen with a generator and wishing the freezer was big enough to sleep in so we could escape the heat.
Day 6 of no power & water in Montvale, Bedford Co. VA is ending. Florida crew working for AEP was fired today. Word on the street is they were smoking illegal commodity….I do not know if this is accurate but to send all 80 workers back – wow – must have been a terrible transgression of some sort. The locals are “disgruntled” & my sense of humor has gone South. We fear there will not be power by Saturday as expected. Cranky seems to describe the prevailing temperment.
From what I’ve heard, the Fla crew was a Loch Haven Lake this morning. They were beginning to bring electric back to the buildings there (5 cabins, a clubhouse, wells for each, etc. all of which has been out since Friday) when they were contacted by AEP and told “you can go home. We’ve got things under control.”
So they dropped what they were doing and left.
Question that will never be answered, but why is it that some of the rural areas came up faster than the more densely populated areas? You would think areas like Lynchburg/Roanoke City would be first to come up fully as in terms of statistics it looks better. Which is better for AEP shareholders, and for the news. “We’ve managed to bring up 80% of customers within x amount of days” etc.
It just seems a bit like they’re throwing darts at a map.
Power coming back quicker in some rural areas probably has to do with the fact that power generation comes from non-urban areas, so AEP has to restore the transmission lines in the rural areas that carry the juice from power plants to the urban areas, and in doing so, that brings a lot of rural customers back on line if their local service lines were not damaged. That is what happened with us…our local lines were ok, it was a transmission line that got taken out…so when AEP got that fixed, we came back on, along with a couple thousands additional customers whose service lines were ok.
And the reason for that is that no one wants a power plant in their back yard…so they’re scattered around in more rural locations with fewer neighbors. The only exception to that rule would be the coal-fired power plant at Virginia Tech, and I believe RU has a gas-fired system (could be wrong on RU).
#228 So, Dan, are you suggesting that Apco sent them home to save $$ and then made up a story about the workers misbehaving?
We escaped the power outage from Friday’s and Sunday’s storms over here in Montgomery Village (Vinton/Rke County). Lights went off for only a minute. We thought we lucked out. Then yesterday afternoon’s mini storm with horizontal rain and hail hit and poof! No power here since near Feather Rd in Vinton since 430 pm Thursday. One step forward, two steps back it seems…
There was more than one crew from Florida. I was told the problem from these crews had to do w/ inappropriate behavior at the hotels. This was also mentioned in one of the Roanoke Times articles. I cannot believe the were sent back w/o perfectly good reason. Clearly they were needed, but couldn’t be tolerated.
I don’t care if my grandparents did grow up without electricity.
DAMN it’s HOT!!
I live on Windor off Grandin. My power flickered, but has stayed on. My sister lives on Maiden and a crew from Florida (yep, that crew) got her power back on. She stayed with me while she waited. I invited neighbors without electricity to join us. I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know my neighbors better. I am grateful to all that are helping us out – even if you can’t see them. 13 Suns, I love your idea! Let’s all help each other out. This is an opportunity to come together as a community! Politics have nothing to do with it! If we “love thy neighbor”, God will surely be pleased.
#228 So, Dan, are you suggesting that Apco sent them home to save $$ and then made up a story about the workers misbehaving?
gdad,
Not necessarily. Just related an account I heard Thursday.
A crew from Texas restored power in my neighborhood in Hardy Thursday about 3:00 pm…God Bless Texas! Someone commented earlier about the pleasing sound of ice hitting the bottom of the ice maker on it’s first cycle…got to hear that last night for the first time in two weeks if I include my week at Boy Scout camp prior to the outage. What a joyful noise!
Re: Comment by beverly s — July 6, 2012 @ 8:25 am
They has a crew from the Secret Service??????
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Our power came back on, in Raleigh Court, on Wednesday afternoon. We were 5 days without power.
That little light, in the empty fridge, smiling back at me, was such a welcome sight!
I’m sure everyone here learned some sort of lesson during this short time with no power. I know I learned a lot.
I learned a lot about who my friends truly are. Most of my friends didn’t have power… but of those who did, only two offered my husband and I a cool place to sleep. I learned who I don’t want to be like.
I learned that uncomfortable situations bring out the worst in people. I’ve never heard so much whining and complaining. It was a power outage… not the devastation of Hiroshima. I wish I would have seen more people coming together to help their less heat tolerant neighbors than complaining about having to throw away some food, sleep in the heat, or not being able to do their hair. On top of that, the rude behavior meter was off the chart. I commented to my husband on Saturday morning how polite everyone was being at the non-traffic-light intersection of Grandin and Brandon. Each person waved the next car through before taking their turn. It was nice to see everyone’s “we are in this together attitude” By Sunday morning, that had all changed and it was every man for himself. Cars were flying through that intersection and middle fingers were raised high out driver side windows.
I learned that I don’t take enough time to enjoy the calm. I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to discover how nice it is to just slow down, to sit in silence and think or talk or nap. I never do that. I busy myself from the time I wake up until I lay down in bed and have always been afraid that if I didn’t fill each moment with something… anything… that it would be a moment lost. I learned I was wrong. Those still, silent times are perfect for reflection and planning and just keeping in touch with yourself… and family.
I learned that I don’t need the temperature in my house to be 70 degrees to be comfortable. If I keep my blinds closed and windows shut, the house stays very bearable. We have started turning off the AC at bedtime and not turning it back on until at least noon the next day. As I type this, I have only a fan running in the background of my cool, dark office and I am perfectly comfortable.
I learned that I take a lot of things for granted. I have always assumed that, each day, I will have electricity, fresh warm water, temperature controlled air, phone service, a means to cook, fresh food, and a roof over my head. I’m actually grateful that I got a chance to see how I can “survive” without many of those things… and I did. I came out of this unscathed and with a better appreciation and reverence for all those things that make my life extremely comfortable.
We are on a grid of 22 homes on Maiden Lane Sw that generally lose power at the drop of a hat…I was pleasantly surprised that we only had a temporary flickering of our power but never really “lost” our power here. In the past it has always been us (grid of 22) on Maiden that go without power, while the neighbors right across the street enjoy their cozy comforts of an electricity filled home. Both of our daughters did not get power for several days (one came back up on Tuesday and the other just last night). An ex son in law was also without for the first 3 days…we opened up our home to all of them and had a house full of kids and grandkids and others. My only regret is that I could not take care of several friends and neighbors across the road, that I certainly wanted to offer up our home to, but ran out of beds and floor space. Thinking back to the devastation that Katrina caused, and what the people of LA, MS, etc. all went through then….consider yourself blessed….while I am NOT a fan of the prices we pay to AEP…I AM a fan of electricity….