Appalachian Power Update

Hurricane Helene’s intense winds and driving rains shoved trees, utility poles and wires to the ground, leaving over a quarter of Appalachian Power’s 1 million customers without electric service. In all, more than 282,000 customers lost power yesterday. Our crews quickly responded and as of 2 p.m. Saturday about 67,500 customers have had service restored. We remain focused on getting the power back on for the remaining customers as quickly as we can.

Appalachian Power planned for the storm by having all crews on alert, packed and ready to travel. We know you depend on us for power and we take that responsibility very seriously.

Damage is widespread. More than 2,500 line workers, assessors, forestry crews, logistic teams and support personnel are working 16-hour shifts to get service restored.

To help the Appalachian Power team, more than 1,000 mutual assistance workers will arrive on Sunday from as far as away as Indiana, Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma.

For outage information, including photos of storm damage and restoration updates, follow us on  Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter)

Assessing Damage

Our crews are currently assessing the damage on foot, by drone and via helicopter. This work is difficult as workers navigate flooded areas and fallen trees.

Customers are often concerned when they see our crews leave before power is restored. The entire line must be assessed before power is restored – for the safety of your family and our crews.