September 19, 2003
9:30 a.m.

RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion Virginia Power line crews, contractors, line crews from other utilities and tree cutters climbed into their trucks Friday morning and began reclaiming a service area devastated by Hurricane Isabel, the worst storm in the company's 100-year history.

The hurricane's winds ripped through northeastern North Carolina and Virginia, tearing trees out of an already sodden ground and throwing limbs into power lines throughout the company's 30,000-square-mile service area.

Isabel turned the lights out on 1.8 million customers—82 percent of the company's 2.2 million electric franchise customers. The number of customers affected was almost double the number by Hurricane Fran in 1996. Power was restored to 150,000 customers overnight, most in the hardest hit area of Tidewater Virginia.

"This will be a marathon, not a sprint," said Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations. "Isabel was the worst storm in our company's history. We're going to work as fast and as safe as we can, but this recovery will take days, not hours."

Dominion assembled a workforce of 7,000, plus more help was on the way Friday from other utility companies as far away as Oklahoma. The workforce will focus its attention Friday on restoring power to public health and safety needs, such as water treatment plants and hospitals, and performing initial damage assessments.

"It is critically important that we first get the public infrastructure back up and running—water plants, hospitals, emergency operations. It is also important to know exactly what we're facing. Our damage assessment teams were out at first light this morning. We will take their information and plan our work," said Staton.

Isabel had its most devastating impact on Tidewater Virginia, where 94 percent of the company's 761,000 customers lost electrical service. Power was lost to 90 percent of the 648,000 customers in Central Virginia, 49 percent of the 806,000 customers in Northern Virginia, the Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley, and 84 percent of the 116,000 customers in northeastern North Carolina.

Dominion is making a direct appeal and urging its customers to notify the company about downed power lines by calling, toll free, 1-888-667-3000. Many felled trees are tangled in power lines and customers should not attempt to clear such trees. Downed power lines are extremely dangerous.

Dominion also urges its customers to use generators safely. Unless installed professionally, they should not be connected to the whole house electrical service. Improperly installed, the electricity could backfeed onto Dominion's power lines and injure line crews. Please make sure you use portable generators properly.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a diversified and integrated energy portfolio that includes 24,000 megawatts of generation and 6.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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