Dominion clients regain power in Virginia as remnants of Ian sweep in

The remnants of Hurricane Ian poured heavy rain into parts of the Washington area Saturday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people in Virginia.

Crews set out Saturday morning to assess the damage, including damaged poles and wires, and power was restored to many homes in the southeastern state by afternoon. Dominion Energy, which serves more than 2.5 million customers in Virginia, expects “virtually all” of its customers to have power on Sunday night, although some in the Hamptons and Virginia Beach Customers may not have power restored until Monday.

On Saturday, coastal flood warnings were issued for counties along the Virginia coast, with fewer warnings for Norfolk and Virginia Beach, extending around Washington. In Alexandria, businesses along the flood-prone waterfront have braced for the potential impact of heavy rains.

Workers at Mia’s Italian kitchen, which flooded in a similar situation last October, stacked sandbags in front. But the restaurant’s managing partner, Kevin Sonst, said the eventual “foggy” weather on Saturday afternoon didn’t cause any problems.

“The water on the street across from us was maybe six inches deep, but it didn’t pass,” Sonst said.

Southeast Virginia was hardest hit, with about 30,000 Dominion customers without power at one point. By Saturday evening, that number had dropped to about 9,900.

Dominion reported that nearly 12,000 customers were without power Saturday afternoon, down from more than 35,000 Saturday morning. About 400 customers in the Richmond area and 57 in Northern Virginia also lost power, down from about 1,000 in those two areas earlier Saturday.

“Our crews are working as safely and quickly as possible to ensure power is restored to all of our customers,” Slayton said.

Meanwhile, Appalachian Power reported about 17,000 of its Virginia customers were without power as of late Saturday afternoon, and Rappahannock Electric Cooperative reported more than 200 customers without power. Customers without electricity, according to the outage map.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm that began Friday, urging residents to “make plans, have supplies ready, and follow official sources for the latest forecast information and guidance.”

This story has been updated with new information about the storm’s impact.

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