CREWE, Va – Southside Electric Cooperative (SEC) personnel worked tirelessly throughout Friday night to repair infrastructure severely impacted when Hurricane Michael tore through SEC’s service area on Thursday, Oct. 11.
As of 9:45 a.m. Saturday, approximately 17,600 SEC members remain without power after the devasting storm. At the peak of the severe weather event, over 40,000 members were impacted – roughly 70 percent of SEC’s system.
Additionally, the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in SEC territory during the event: in Amelia County and Nottoway County/Burkeville. The extensive damage and subsequent member impact have made this event the Cooperative’s most significant outage event since Hurricane Irene, which left 26,000 members without power in 2011.
Co-op crews from Virginia and neighboring states have been working alongside SEC crews to restore power since Friday, with a total of 22 mutual aid and contract crews assisting restoration efforts on Saturday, Oct. 13. Crews will continue working until power is restored to all.
During restoration efforts, crews have identified 40 broken poles. That number is expected to rise as impacted areas are cleared and assessed. Due to the extent of the damage from fallen trees and equipment, SEC encourages members to prepare for several days without electricity.
SEC wishes to remind members and those in the community to please stay away from any downed power lines and equipment. Treat all damaged electrical infrastructure as if it is energized.
To report outages, please call: 1-866-878-5514. Another option for outage reporting is through SEC’s TextPower service. Members who are enrolled can text #out to 866-878-5514.
Southside Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative that serves more than 56,000 homes and businesses in portions of 18 counties in central and southern Virginia. Headquartered in Crewe, SEC has district offices in Altavista, Crewe, Dinwiddie and Powhatan. For more information,
visit www.sec.coop.
