With the threat of severe weather today, Dominion Power crews are preparing for possible power outages.
Live weather updates: Tracking severe weather
The biggest concern is strong wind gusts and lightning, which could bring down trees and power lines.
Dominion Power spokesperson Bonita Harris says their trucks are stocked and crews have been prepped for what to expect. They have placed additional crews at various local offices so they can respond to any outages as quickly as possible.
Harris says they also take proactive steps throughout the year to be better prepared for severe weather, including trimming trees year-round and upgrading the electric system.
If you do experience a power outage, here’s what to do:
- report the outage by going to dom.com on your smart phone or call 1-866-DOM-HELP
- use the app to check the status of your outage
- turn off major appliances so that when power is restored you don’t experience a surge (leave one light on so you know when power is back)
If you see a downed power line, report it to Dominion using dom.com or 1-866-DOM-HELP and stay at least 30 feet away from it.
“Downed power lines can be extremely dangerous. They can cause you serious harm or even death, so we just urge people to report it as soon as they see a downed power line as stay far away from it. Assume those lines are energized and dangerous,” said Harris. “Water is a conductor of electricity, so not only do you need to stay at least 30 feet away from any downed power lines, but also anything that those lines might be touching that could be a conductor of electricity, including water.”
Stay with NewsChannel 3 throughout the day for updates on the storm. You can also look for posts from the First Warning Storm Team on Twitter using #FirstWarn3.
