As of 10:15 this morning, only 997 Dominion customers were without power in Arlington, compared to more than 5,000 around the same time yesterday and more than 18,000 at the height of Superstorm Sandy.
Last night, Arlington officials reported that there were no dark traffic lights in the county. Six intersections were using generators to keep the signals functioning, however. There were about 20 non-functioning traffic signals the morning after the storm.
The company plans to work on downed lines and blown transformers in more than 40 locations around the county.
As of 10:00 a.m., 5,264 Dominion customers are still without power in Arlington. That’s down from more than 18,000 at the storm’s peak. The company says it plans to have all Superstorm Sandy-related outages restored by Thursday night.
According to an officer on the scene, just before 10:00 a.m., the driver of a large truck was attempting to make a right turn onto Lee Highway from northbound Quincy Street. Somehow he snagged a cable anchored into the sidewalk, which supports a utility pole. The top of the pole snapped and brought down wires, a transformer and part of another pole.
“This is all just because some guy couldn’t make a turn correctly,” the officer said.
More than 1,500 Dominion customers are reported to be without power this morning in Arlington.
The outage appears to be centered around the northwest corner of Arlington, near the border with the City of Falls Church. A number of readers have been reporting power outages and dark traffic lights along Lee Highway.
Dominion is reminding work crews and homeowners in Virginia to call “Miss Utility” at 811 before digging on their property.
The reminder comes just a day after a contractor suffered burns after striking an electrical line while digging along Lee Highway. From a Dominion press release:
(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Police and firefighters responded to the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Monroe Street this morning for an electrical accident.
Initial reports indicate that a worker who was digging with a small front loader struck a high-voltage line. The contact sent sparks flying through the air. The worker reportedly suffered burn injuries from the sparks and was transported to a local hospital.
The scam involves offering customers the opportunity to set up an account to pay utility bills via a federal program. According to the Better Business Bureau, there is no such federal program in existence to pay household bills.
Victims have reportedly been contacted in person as well as by phone, text and social media. They were asked to register their Social Security numbers and banking information in order set up an account to make payments. The account numbers the victims were then given for bill paying turned out to be fake.
The Dominion outage website showed around 100 customers without power as of 8:00 a.m., but those now appear to have been fixed.
Verizon, meanwhile, reports significant progress on restoring service to its TV, internet and phone customers who were affected by the June 29 storm. A Verizon spokesman said technicians worked extended shifts over the weekend and service levels are nearly back to a normal level today.
As of 2:30 p.m., Dominion’s outage website showed 1,438 customers without power. That’s down from 3,960 at the same time yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. Dominion reports it’s on track to have electricity restored to nearly all customers by Friday night.
“In a few instances, work in Northern Virginia may continue into Saturday where there was extreme damage,” said Rodney Blevins, Dominion vice president of Electric Distribution Operations, in a statement.
Dominion says its on track to restore power to 80-85 percent of customers affected by Friday’s storms by the end of the day today. The company says 90-95 percent of affected customers should be back on line by Thursday night, with “virtually all remaining customers” restored by Saturday night.
Dominion crews and mutual aid crews will be working through the Fourth of July holiday, the company said.
As of 9:30 a.m. on Monday, 27,586 Dominion customers were still without power, down from 59,000 at noon on Saturday. The company says it has 4,200 employees and contractors working to restore power to customers in all affected areas, but notes that the huge scale of the damage is making restoration a multi-day process.
“Many poles and cross arms need to be replaced, and other infrastructure needs to be rebuilt,” Dominion said in a press release.
Dominion continues to make progress in restoring power to Arlington households in the wake of Friday night’s storms.
As of 8:00 Sunday night, 33,879 Dominion customers were still without power in Arlington, down from 59,000 around noon on Saturday. Dominion says it hopes to restore power to 80-85 of all customers by Tuesday night, and 90-95 percent of customers by Thursday night.
