Sandy could knock out power to 1 million customers - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

Dominion power estimates up to one million customers could lose power due to Hurricane Sandy, making it one of the worst storms on the books.

20,000 customers in the Hampton Roads area have already lost power. Crews have been restoring electricity all day. 

More fleets from out of state are on their way to Virginia. The storm is predicted to churn over our area for nearly three days, bringing cold weather, downed trees and knocking out power. The operational threat presents challenges for linemen working around the clock.  

2,000 crews from all over the region are arriving in Virginia to help.

"We're willing to stay here as long as it takes to get everything back on," said Josh Likes, whose crew drove about 500 miles from Kentucky Sunday.

Likes and his fleet will go through safety training at the processing center and head out to specific assignments, weather permitting.  

"What makes Sandy unique and different is really these three-day operational threat window," said Dominion Virginia Power Spokeswoman, Alison Kaufmann. "For three days we're going to have very high winds and this makes it unique and different for our crews because it's going to be hard to complete a lot of restoration while these winds are so strong."

Dominion Power has spent the past several days organizing fleets and additional supplies at each processing center. Crews stocked up on all kinds of materials including dozens of utility poles. They can come in, load up, and head back out as quickly as possible.

Trees plummeting on those power lines are a major concern for Governor Bob McDonnell.

"That's the biggest safety problem," said Governor McDonnell. "During the last storms, that's where most of the people have gotten hurt and what caused most of the power outages. I think our team is ready. They've been through this many times before."

Dominion Power says as many as one million people could end up in the dark, close to the same number from Irene and the July Derecho.

"So Hurricane Sandy has the potential to be a top five if not definitely a top 10 storm for Dominion," Kaufmann noted.

If you need to report a power outage or downed power line, call 1-866-DOM-HELP or 1-866-366-4367. You can also use Dominion's mobile web app on your smart phone: It's m.dom.com.

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