Dominion Secures Out-of-State Assistance in Face of Hurricane Isabel

September 16, 2003

RICHMOND, Va. - Utility line crews from as far away as Texas, Florida and Ohio began driving toward Virginia Tuesday to bolster Dominion Virginia Power in its response to expected outages from Hurricane Isabel’s strong winds and heavy rains.

The crews from five southeastern energy companies are expected to arrive Wednesday at staging areas throughout Dominion’s electric franchise service area. They will push the company’s current service restoration workforce to about 7,000.

Isabel has weakened slightly, but is still a powerful storm. Forecasts call for Isabel to make landfall Thursday along the North Carolina coast, then blow its way north through Hampton Roads, central Virginia and northern Virginia. With predicted wind gusts in excess of 100 mph and the already saturated ground, the company expects a significant number of outages from tree damage, broken poles and downed power lines.

“Dominion is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We ask our customers to do the same,” said Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations. “Isabel is expected to blow across cities, towns and counties where about 80 percent of our customers live and work. The hurricane will cause widespread power outages that could last several days.”

Customers with health problems or dependent on home medical equipment should make arrangements for shelter someplace other than their homes.

Dominion reminds its customers to call toll free 1-888-667-3000 to report outages or downed lines. The company also reminds customers to stay away from downed power lines. The company's outage reporting system can handle 100,000 calls an hour. Using the system’s voice response unit is the quickest way to report an outage or downed power lines.

Dominion urges its customers to pay attention to weather reports and, if Hurricane Isabel’s storms near, take common-sense steps to prepare for possible outages:

  • Have a good supply of fresh batteries for flashlights, clocks and radios.
  • Have several gallons of freshwater on hand. This is especially important for those who rely on well water.
  • If you normally wash your clothes on the weekend, do them earlier this week before the storm.
  • Have a good supply of canned and other non-refrigerated foods available.
  • Make sure prescription medications are filled.
  • If the power goes out, turn off major appliances such as heat pumps, water heaters and stoves. Unplug other appliances such as TV's, stereos, microwaves, and computers. This will prevent damage to the appliance and possible overloads to the company's system when power is restored.
  • Disconnect cable lines from TVs and stereos and phone lines from computers. This will prevent lightning damage to these expensive items.
  • Leave one lamp or light on so you can tell when power is restored.
  • Open refrigerators and freezers as little as possible to keep contents cold.
  • If using portable or camp-type stoves or lanterns for cooking and lighting, make sure the area is adequately ventilated.
  • Do not hook portable generators directly to the electrical system of your home. Electricity could backfeed into power lines endangering repair crews. Either have a qualified electrician perform that work or plug directly into the generator with the proper-sized extension cords.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio consisting of 24,000 megawatts of generation, 6.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas reserves, 7,900 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline and more than 960 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. Additional information about Dominion is available on the Internet at www.dom.com.

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