Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said he is not pleased with Appalachian Power's response to power outages caused by a storm Wednesday morning.
"I did not see any crews out as I have seen following similar damaging windstorms in the past," Carper wrote in a news release. "This storm system was known well in advance of the actual date and time of impact. Our Kanawha County Emergency Staff was mobilized 18 hours before the storm moved through Kanawha County."
The storm swept through the area just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, downing trees and power lines and causing wind and hail damage, dispatchers said. At their peak, power outages affected 101,000 Appalachian Power customers, according to the company.
Carper sent a letter to Appalachian Power president Chris Beam expressing his disappointment in the company's response and asking when the power company started dispatching crews and why crews were not readily visible in the county.
The storm Wednesday morning damaged electrical facilities, according to AEP.
"More than 70 percent of customers who lost power as a result of the storm have had power restored," the company wrote in an update posted at 10:45 a.m. Friday. "Work is ongoing in areas of West Virginia most impacted by the storm, including repairs to 10 distribution circuits, 3 distribution stations and 20 transmission lines."
As of 4:30 p.m., 1,920 customers in Kanawha County still were without power, according to Appalachian Power's outage map. Another 1,490 customers were out in McDowell, as well as 2,001 in Mingo, 1,485 in Raleigh, 1,789 in Wayne, 4,010 in Fayette and 1,410 in Boone.
"There are still over 1,000 families in Kanawha County without power, which means they are having to endure the cold and darkness without any heat or light," Carper wrote.
In an emailed response to the county, Beam wrote that he was out with repair crews and hoped to respond to Carper's letter by Monday.
"Our main focus is to get everyone's power back on right now," he wrote.
Reached for comment Friday afternoon, Appalachian Power spokesman Phil Moye said crews were working in Kanawha, even if Carper did not see them.
"Appalachian Power followed the predicted storm closely, made a prudent response plan and is following that plan," Moye wrote in email.
"Employees across Appalachian Power's three-state service area came to work Wednesday morning prepared to either work storm response in their own area or travel to assist if their area was not affected. That is exactly what happened.
"When the storm blew through on Wednesday morning, crews were dispatched as soon as the first outage occurred," he wrote. "Teams of damage assessment specialists drove our distribution lines, placing eyes on damage so we could know the material and resources needed to make repairs. At the same time, line workers began repairing known damage on outages that affected large numbers of customers."
Workers from areas that were not affected by the storm traveled to the area to help with outages, Moye said. Contract and other utility crews also came to the area to help.
Moye said within 48 hours of the first outage, the company had restored power to nearly 70,000 customers, 70 percent of which lost service because of storm damage.
"We understand the impact power outages have on the lives of our customers," Moye wrote. "We are working with dedication and an extreme sense of urgency to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible."
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.