Salt contamination causes widespread electricity outages in Hampton Roads; hundreds still without power on PeninsulaOct 28 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Sarah J. Ketchum and Jonathan Black Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
Salt is to blame for widespread power outages in Hampton Roads Tuesday and Wednesday, a Dominion Virginia Power spokeswoman said. Nearly 60,000 customers have lost power since Tuesday afternoon when salt on the lines caused equipment to fail, and in some cases sparked fires, according to spokeswoman Bonita Harris. Salt built up on the lines after persistent winds blew it inland from the ocean, Harris said. The problem isn't unusual for the region, she said, but recent strong winds have blown it farther inland than officials have seen in several years. The company's equipment is built to handle some salt, she said, but the wind combined with a lack of recent heavy rain to wash it off has caused more to accumulate than usual, she said. The salt can cause the equipment to overheat and lead to sparking and other complications, she said. Some of the company's biggest trouble spots have been in Hampton and Newport News, Harris said. They've had to call in crews from Williamsburg to assist with some of those repairs. Outages -- 3:22 p.m., Oct. 28 Hampton: 47 Isle of Wight: 1 James City: 11 Newport News: 20 York: 655 Previously, 2:39 p.m. Oct. 28 More than 1,000 customers are without power in York County Wednesday afternoon. That's in addition to about 100 more outages scattered across the Peninsula, according to Dominion Virginia Power's reporting system. Previously, 9:08 a.m. Oct. 28: More than 500 Hampton residents are without electricity Wednesday morning, according to Dominion Virginia Power. About 300 of the outages are occurring south of War Memorial Stadium and I-664 in the southwest of the city. The rest -- 205 -- have occurred west of Darling Stadium and north of Victoria Boulevard. Both are reportedly caused by storm damage. Previously, 9:08 p.m. Oct. 27: Update: Power is back on for the majority of more than 2,000 customers in Hampton who lost it Tuesday night, according to Dominion Virginia Power. The outage in the Buckroe area of the city has been reduced to 369. The outage in the area of Mercury Boulevard, west of Interstate 64, has been resolved. Previously, 6:40 p.m. Oct. 27: More than 2,000 customers are without electricity in Hampton, Dominion Virginia Power's outage system is reporting. The majority of the outages -- 1,630 -- affect areas north and south of Mercury Boulevard, west of Interstate 64. There was a report of a pole on fire in the 2600 block of Cunningham Drive, an emergency communications dispatcher said. That outage is expected to be resolved between 9 and 11 p.m., according to Dominion. An equipment problem is causing an additional 612 outages in the Buckroe area of the city, the outage reporting system shows. That outage is expected to be resolved between 10 p.m and midnight.
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