A devastating storm with powerful winds tore through a portion of Frederick County just east of Winchester Tuesday afternoon, leaving more than 4,000 REC members without power.
Crews that are onsite report damage similar to what occurs during a microburst — or the equivalent of a small tornado. The brunt of the damage and outages occurred just along State Route 657 and adjacent communities, including the area around Greenwood Elementary School.
Crews have reported up to 25 broken poles and an equal number of downed spans of wire. Each broken pole can take several hours to replace and repair.
REC line crews are already working to make repairs, but the Cooperative cautions that the devastating damage means the outage could last into Wednesday. Additional crews from REC’s Bowling Green and Culpeper regions are enroute to the Blue Ridge outage to assist with repairs and restoration. In addition, REC has called in all available contractors in the area and additional mutual-aid support.
For your safety, please stay at least 10 feet clear of any downed power line and anything it may be in contact with, and consider the line energized. If you see a downed power line, please call 911 and REC to report it.
