ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VA (Rocktown Now) – SVEC crews and contractors will continue to work to restore service Thursday evening after an early-morning ice storm left thousands without power, hitting western Rockingham County the hardest.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, more than 2,300 members are out of service, with about 2,000 of those in Rockingham. All locations that currently have a crew dispatched are estimated to be restored by 10 p.m. Thursday. The remaining locations can expect full restoration by 6 p.m. Friday. The list is available for reference on the outage map at www.svec.coop/outage, or in the MySVEC app. The map should reflect whether a member is expected to be restored Thursday night or Friday. Members are encouraged to check the map for real-time information, as it is available.

As the weather cleared Thursday, crews gradually made progress on restoration that at one point surpassed 6,000 members across the Valley. However, road access was a prevailing problem, with trees blocking roads. Trees overcome by ice fell into power lines to cause a majority of outages, and in many cases these trees are outside of the cooperative’s maintained right-of-way.

At the storm response’s peak, SVEC had about 100 outage devices Thursday afternoon, which means there were 100 different locations to visit and restore service. Crews continue to work as quickly and safely as possible. Since the majority of the damage was in a concentrated area (western Rockingham), SVEC’s operations closely monitored the response to ensure all workers were in the safest conditions before re-energizing lines.

As a general reminder, in major storms it’s important to remember SVEC seeks to respond to incidents affecting the most members, working backward from a substation to the end of the line. Please remember to never go near or touch downed power lines, and report those immediately to SVEC by calling 1-800-234-7832.

To report outages, members should also call 1-800-234-7832, use the MySVEC app or go to www.svec.coop/outage.