THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602040176
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Thousands of Hampton Roads residents awakened today to another morning without electricity as Virginia Power crews, reinforced by workers from West Virginia and Maryland, labored to repair damage caused by the worst ice storm this decade.
Up to 90,000 customers were still without lights and heat late Saturday, said Willie Holt, director of personnel and administration for the utility. That was a big improvement over Saturday morning when 162,000 customers, or about 27 percent of Virginia Power's 586,000 accounts, were without service.
Service will be restored by 6 p.m. today to about 80 percent of those who have been in the dark, Holt predicted. But some customers will be without service until Tuesday. They will suffer through the coldest weather of the storm when Monday's lows dip to near the record of 4 degrees set in 1886.
Highs today will remain in the upper 20s, the National Weather Service said, but skies will clear. No relief from freezing temperatures is expected until Tuesday, when highs will be in the 40s, the weather service said.
``This is the worst situation that a utility can deal with,'' Holt said. ``Some of our customers are getting impatient, which is understandable, because this is certainly the power outage of the longest duration that we have had. We are hoping that this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of ice storm.''
Recovery was frustrating. As soon as crews could fix one problem, other ice-laden limbs would fall, knocking out more power lines. Crews sometimes had to return to neighborhoods where they had worked before.
No loss of life has been linked to the storm. However, Virginia Beach General Hospital, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, DePaul Medical Center and Sentara Leigh Hospital reported some increase in storm-related cases such as broken bones from falls.
Roadways remained covered with ice and snow. Motorists, though, appeared to be heeding warnings to stay home, said Tammy Van Dame, a spokeswoman for the state police. She said troopers were filing only half the number of accident reports they wrote on Friday, when hundreds of accidents were reported.
``We've had a marked decrease in accidents,'' Van Dame said. ``Fortunately, it was the weekend and most people did not have to travel.''
Bill Cannell, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said roads are expected to be ice-covered through today. Fallen tree limbs are also a hazard, Cannell said, so much so that some snow-removal crews have been pulled from that duty and assigned to remove fallen trees.
Although Norfolk International Airport remained open, there were long delays, which are expected to continue today. Airport officials suggested calling ahead to check schedules.
Reinforcements for Virginia Power crews began arriving in Hampton Roads Saturday morning. ``They will be here until we restore up to 95 percent of our customers,'' Holt said. Crews have been working around the clock in 16-hour shifts since Friday night.
Most of the customers still without power late Saturday were in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, where 27,000 and 20,000 homes, respectively, remained cold and dark. An additional 18,000 customers were without power in Portsmouth and Suffolk, and about 12,000 in Hampton and Newport News. About 12,000 Norfolk residents lacked electricity late Saturday.
Holt said Virginia Power tries to keep limbs trimmed so there is a buffer area around power lines. But, he said, not much can be done to prepare for such a severe ice storm. Fortunately, they are rare, he said.
``The last time we had a storm even close to this was in 1989,'' Holt said. by CNB