Thousands in Virginia still without power following winter storm

Tens of thousands of households and businesses in Virginia were still without power Wednesday afternoon in the aftermath of Monday’s winter storm.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, Virginia’s largest utility — Dominion Energy — reported that more than 68,700 customers were still without power.  

About 400,000 customers lost power early Monday due to the heavy snow and strong winds, the utility said. This week’s storm to the nation’s capital region is one of top five worst winter storms the company has dealt with, Dominion said. 

The damage was most severe around Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, where road conditions were treacherous and “in some cases, impassable,” the company added. 

The high winds and heavy, wet snow toppled trees and power lines. There were broken poles and cross arms at more than 5,000 work locations across the service area, Dominion Energy said. 

Service had been restored to more than 290,000 customers as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, and should be restored to most of those still without power by late Wednesday, according to Dominion Energy. The company said there will still be some outage restorations extending into Thursday. 

While crews were trying to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, dangerous road conditions hampered the process, the company said. It noted more than 800 mutual aid workers along with Dominion staff were working to restore power. 

Meanwhile, the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative said about 2,800 customers, most of them in Stafford County and southern Prince William County, were without power as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

“In these hardest hit areas, dangerous working conditions including downed trees, tree limbs, blocked roadways and the rerouting of traffic following an I-95 shutdown have slowed down the restoration process,” the company said Wednesday in an online update. “NOVEC is concentrating efforts in these areas, but crews will keep working across the territory to restore power to all affected customers during this multi-day restoration process.” 

Numerous sites throughout Virginia set up warming shelters in response to the winter storm and power outages. 

Prince William County had two warming centers operating Wednesday to offer heat, restrooms and power to charge cellphones. The county opened the centers at Buckhall Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Dumfries Community Center. 

The Buckhall Volunteer Fire Department in Manassas also opened its doors to the public to charge electronics, get some water and keep themselves warm for a couple of hours. 

“We figured we’re here, we have a space to use, why not open it up to the public?” fire department President Luke McBride told WTOP Radio. “It’s some place people can hide out for a few hours and get out of their house.” 

In Louisa County, a warming shelter was set up at the Holly Grove Fire Department, while Louisa County Middle School opened up an overnight shelter Tuesday. 

Hanover County tweeted Wednesday that it had a warming center with overnight capabilities set up at Winns Baptist Church. The county tweeted Tuesday that it set up a warming and charging station at Montpelier Recreation Center. 

Maryland and the District still had reports of power outages Wednesday, though far fewer than Virginia. 

In Maryland, there were an estimated 4,600 power outages as of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to the state’s Department of Emergency Management. 

In the District, 36 Pepco customers were experiencing a power outage late Wednesday afternoon, a tracker by the utility showed.