Still in the dark

With Tuesday’s sunshine and warmer temperatures helping melt the snow – and about 3,500 electrical and tree workers tackling storm damage – the power is slowly coming back on across the Mountain Empire.
About 100,000 people in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee remained without power Tuesday – about half of the total who were in the dark on Saturday, said Todd Burns, spokesman for Appalachian Power, which serves most of Southwest Virginia and part of East Tennessee.
“I think we’re getting to the point in the outage where we really start making some progress,” said Burns, adding treacherous conditions in the first days following Friday’s heavy snowfall hampered crews’ efforts to restore power.
But the severe winter storm that caused the widespread damage may have also claimed a life.
It was unclear Tuesday if frigid temperatures played a role in the death of a middle-aged man from the St. Paul area, according to Bill Watson, chief deputy for the Russell County Sheriff’s Office.
Responding to a reporter’s question if the unidentified man froze to death, Watson said, “There is a possibility that could’ve happened, but we don’t know what the cause of death is.”
Watson said the body has been sent for an autopsy.
In addition to power, some parts of the region have also been without water service. Power was expected to be restored late Tuesday at the John Flannagan Reservoir, which supplies water to Dickenson, Buchanan and parts of Wise and Tazewell counties, according to Isaac Webb, district manager for Appalachian Power
“We did have the downtown part of Haysi [Monday] evening until about 9 [p.m.], when some more trees fell and took the transmission line feeding the Haysi station back out,” said Webb. “We’re in the process of trying to pull those trees off right now.”
He said the system that brings electricity to the water pump at the dam in Dickenson County and the booster pump toward Buchanan County had been rebuilt and water service would be restored “in very short order.”
Clintwood district Supervisor Donnie Rife said everyone served by the John Flannagan Water Authority was being advised to boil water for drinking, brushing teeth and washing dishes for 48 hours after it’s restored. Customers are also advised to shut off power to hot water heaters to avoid damage when there’s no water.
Around the region Tuesday, bottled water was being delivered to needy residents and National Guard troops were helping out with the storm relief effort in the hardest hit counties.
As of Tuesday evening, the Mountain Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross continued to serve about 500 people at seven shelters in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Wise counties, according to a written statement.
But the mood among local officials was one of progress as, they agreed, the situation was steadily improving.
Burns said an incredible amount of poles, lines and equipment had been damaged by falling trees and – five days into the effort – it still looked like a fresh storm.
Most people should have power restored by Christmas, Burns said.
“The majority of customers will be back on by Friday midnight,” he said. “We try to restore service to the largest number of customers first, so some of those will come into the weekend, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.”
In Buchanan County, Webb said power had been restored to the infrastructure along U.S. Route 460, including the towns of Grundy and Vansant.
“We’re continuing to work our way out and get folks back on,” Webb said. “We’re working our way through it, and things are going good.” In Dickenson County, power has been restored to Clintwood, and the company expected to have power back Tuesday to both Haysi and the reservoir.
Rife said things are starting to move again in Clintwood, with grocery stores re-stocking shelves and other stores re-opening. He said the roads are clear but it’s still difficult to find a place to pull off roadways, adding people there have done a good job checking on their neighbors.
But there’s still a lot to be done this Christmas season, he said, as the area recovers from a snowstorm of a significant magnitude.
“It’s gonna be a white one,” Rife said,” but I don’t know about a merry one.”
There are a “large number” of outages throughout the county “up every hollow,” Webb said.
In Scott County, power was back on in parts of Duffield, Weber City and Gate City, Webb said, adding “we have a large number of scattered outages throughout the county and significant damage throughout the county.”
In Sullivan and Hawkins counties in Tennessee and Smyth and Tazewell counties in Virginia, the outages that remained were small in number and scattered, Webb said.
The same was true in Washington County, Va., except on Mendota Road, where power lines were hit by “a whole pile of white pines” during the storm.
In Wise County, the lights were back on in Pound on Tuesday, and Appalachian Power was reconstructing lines leading to other areas it serves.
Lt. Ronnie Large, of the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, said although many people still lack electricity, heat and water, conditions are steadily improving in the county.
“The roads now are pretty much clear – the main roads. The power is being restored,” Large said. “I think the temperatures coming up today [to melt some of the snow] helped tremendously.”
In Russell County, the areas still lacking power Tuesday were around Carbo, Dante, Hansonville and Castlewood.
“The plant’s operational [at Carbo], it’s just that our distribution system is not operational there,” said Webb. “Although we’ve made some progress, we just haven’t got it all fixed.”
Watson, the chief deputy for the Russell County Sheriff’s Office said, conditions were also slowly improving there although thousands remained without power and water.
He said deputies, working 12-hour shifts with no days off, were delivering propane and kerosene heaters, as well as lanterns and battery-powered flashlights, to those in need. Others have been transported to shelters.
“There’s all kinds of utility trucks working, and they’re restoring power slowly, but there is just so much damage here in this county from trees that fell on lines and everything that they’re trying to clear up,” Watson said.
As the recovery effort progresses, local officials have their fingers crossed that no more snow – or rain – will hit the region until the present damage is fixed.
“If you have all this snow here and you start adding rain and melt the snow and everything’s going to go to the rivers and streams and creeks, we may be faced with another problem – flooding,” Watson said.

dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701