RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Progress Energy has
restored electric service to tens of thousands of customers in the wake of
Tropical Storm Hanna, and an army of company and contract crews is focusing
on those still without power.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020923/CHM008LOGO-c )
As of noon, an estimated 33,800 customers were without power. Most
remaining outages are in coastal areas and the coastal plain, though
scattered outages also remain as far west as the Triangle and Sandhills.
All South Carolina customers have been restored.
North Carolina counties with the largest numbers of power outages at
noon are New Hanover (6,600); Wayne (5,000); Craven (3,000); Columbus
(1,800); Robeson (1,800); Brunswick (1,700); Pamlico (1,400); Wake (1,400);
Lenoir (1,300); Nash (1,300); Beaufort (1,100); Chatham (1,100). Outages
are scattered elsewhere.
Progress Energy expects to restore service to most customers by
midnight tonight, with restoration in particularly hard-hit areas expected
to be completed by Sunday at midnight.
The rolling nature of the storm meant that new outages were being
reported this morning even as crews in other areas were restoring service.
Between midnight and noon today, company and contract crews had restored
service to more than 143,000 customers. The largest number of customers
without power at any one time was approximately 55,000 at 8 a.m. today.
Tropical Storm Hanna came ashore at 3:20 a.m., bringing high winds and
heavy rains to much of Progress Energy Carolinas' service area. Progress
Energy has supplemented the normal complement of 300 line & service and
tree crews in Eastern North Carolina with more than 150 additional line and
tree personnel and scores of additional damage assessors and support staff.
Additional crews are scheduled to move east, if needed, once outages in the
Triangle and Sandhills are cleared.
Progress Energy works to minimize storm impacts year-round through
preventive maintenance, including trimming of trees around the company's
6,000 miles of transmission lines and 60,000 miles of electric distribution
lines. Wind-blown trees and limbs are the leading cause of power outages
during storms.
Customers and media can find outage information on Progress Energy's
Web site at http://www.progress-energy.com/outagemap. During major events
such as storms, the map will be updated several times a day.
The quickest way to report an outage during a storm is to call the
automated outage-reporting system at 1-800-419-6356. For the latest
information, visit Progress Energy's storm site online at
http://www.progress-energy.com/storm.
Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250
energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and
$9 billion in annual revenues. The company will observe a century of
operation in 2008. Progress Energy includes two major utilities that serve
3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. Progress Energy is the
2006 recipient of the Edison Electric Institute's Edison Award, the
industry's highest honor, in recognition of its operational excellence. The
company also is the first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and
Associates Founder's Award for customer service. Progress Energy serves two
fast-growing areas of the country, and the company is pursuing a balanced
approach to meeting the future energy needs of the region. That balance
includes increased energy efficiency programs, investments in renewable
energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. For more
information about Progress Energy, visit the company's Web site at
http://www.progress-energy.com.
SOURCE Progress Energy
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