Kentucky Power Storm Update
Thursday, August 4, 11 a.m.
Weather
Flooding on Thursday, July 28 caused catastrophic damage to numerous communities in southeast Kentucky leaving 23,000 customers without power at the peak of the event.
Summary
Approximately 2,500 customers remain without power. More than 89% of customers have been restored to power since flooding occurred one week ago today.
Storm Response Efforts
More than 900 Kentucky Power personnel, business partners and external resources are working to restore power. Crews from AEP sister companies and other business partners from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia and Virginia are assisting.
The remaining work is extremely difficult and time-consuming due to the terrain and poor access conditions.
Estimated Restoration Times
Most of the major restoration work will wrap up by late Friday night, but work will continue through the weekend. We anticipate that a percentage of customers still without power are not in a position to receive power at this time and will work with those customers over the coming days and weeks. Because of the extent of damage to people’s homes and businesses, we have a lot of single customer outage cases as restoration progresses. If the electric service entrance (meter loop) to your home or business has been damaged or pulled away from the structure, you will need to have it repaired in accordance with the National Electric Code before Kentucky Power can re-connect service.
Crews have more than 165 separate outage cases to address and there are multiple outages on the same circuit in many areas.
We realize this list does not capture every road, community and area but represents where the biggest groups of customers exist. We are working to restore every customer who can receive power as quickly and as safely as possible.
Breathitt County – approximately 670 customers without power
The biggest pockets of outages remain in these areas and surrounding areas: Hwy 28/Booneville, Canoe, Turner’s Creek, Morris Fork, Buckhorn town, Lost Creek, Quick Sand, Press Howard, Troublesome Creek, Little Buckhorn, Clayhole and Around Hwy 476. Crews are working in these areas today.
Knott County – approximately 775 customers without power
The biggest pockets of outages remain in these areas and surrounding areas: Fisty, Meadowbrook Road; Garner/upper end of Hindman; Pinetop, Pinetop Community Center, Collins Branch and Steer Fork; Right Fork of Holly Bush; Talcum area. Crews are working in these areas today.
Perry County – approximately 1,140 customers without power
Crews are addressing outages in and around Ary. Because of the damage to the roads/terrain, nine power poles have to be relocated. Complete restoration for this area could continue into Friday.
Crews will start rebuilding the Squabble Creek area tomorrow. There are 15 poles needing set in this area.
Work continues in the Buckhorn, 15 Mile, 16 Mile and surrounding areas.
There are scattered outages remaining in Leslie, Letcher and Pike counties but restoration will continue in these areas today.
For More Information
Customers can report outages and check the latest restoration information for their account anytime at kentuckypower.com/outages or by downloading the Kentucky Power mobile app at kentuckypower.com/app. Customers can report outages online, on their mobile device or to our Customer Operations Center at 1-800-572-1113.
Safety Message: Kentucky Power warns customers to stay away from all downed lines. Never touch downed power lines no matter how harmless they look. It can be difficult to distinguish between a power line and a cable or telephone line. All downed lines should be considered energized and dangerous. Also, never touch anything in contact with the line, such as trees, fences or puddles of water, since they can conduct electricity. Keep children and pets away from this potential hazard. Call Kentucky Power at 1-800-572-1113 to report hazards.
Next update: Friday, August 5 at 11 a.m.
