Kentucky Power Storm Summary
Sunday, January 12, 2020 – 10 a.m.
Situation
Kentucky Power is responding to two waves of heavy rain and strong winds that moved through eastern Kentucky on Saturday. The storms resulted in nearly 230 separate outages mainly caused by trees falling on power lines and breaking nearly 20 poles and bringing down lines.
Weather
Severe weather brought winds with gusts up to nearly 60 miles an hour on Saturday. More mild weather on Sunday will allow workers to more quickly restore power without additional outages.
Storm Response Efforts
Nearly 340 crews and contractors are working to make repairs as quickly as they can do so safely. In addition, a helicopter is being used to assess damage to facilities by air. Most affected customers should have power restored by Sunday night in counties served by the Hazard and Pikeville districts. Outages in some areas served by the Ashland District could extend into Monday.
Outages
About 3,200 customers lost electrical service Saturday afternoon. Power had been restored to about half of those affected customers Saturday night when a second wave of storms knocked out power to additional customers. At the height of the storm, about 4,240 customers were affected. By 10 a.m., Sunday, about 2,880 customers were without power. The majority of remaining customers without service are in Boyd and Lawrence counties served by the Ashland District, Pike and Martin counties served by the Pikeville District, and Knott County served by the Hazard District. Other outages are in Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Perry, and Rowan counties.
For More Information
A snapshot view of current outages affecting five customers or more is available anytime at kentuckypower.com/outages. The outage map is updated every 15 minutes. Restoration information is added when known. Click on “View Outage Map” to access the map on a computer, cell phone, or tablet. Customers can report outages online, on their mobile device or to our Customer Operations Center at 1-800-572-1113.
Outages also can be reported via the Kentucky Power mobile app. The app can be downloaded free at both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Customers can get specific information about the outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email by subscribing to Kentucky Power outage alerts. To sign up, please visit www.kentuckypower.com/alerts. Information also is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KentuckyPower and on Twitter at twitter.com/KentuckyPower or @KentuckyPower.
Safety Message
Customers should treat all downed lines as live power lines and stay away from them. Never touch downed power lines or sparking equipment. Keep children and pets away from fallen lines and anything the lines may touch.
Customers can take practical steps to stay safe during outages by assembling an emergency kit with flashlights and fresh batteries; candles, matches, or lighters; water for drinking and cooking; canned goods and a manual can opener; and other supplies. A mobile cell phone charger also is useful. Additional safety tips are posted at
https://kentuckypower.com/outages/faq/OutageSafetyTips.aspx.
Next Update: Updates will be provided as conditions warrant.