A&N Electric Co-op outages now under 100

A&N Electric Cooperative will continue to restore power to cooperative members affected by Winter Storm Kenan. The storm brought heavy wet snow and gusting winds to the area beginning late Friday night through Saturday.

The local area received between 6 to 9.5 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. The wet, heavy snow made driving conditions hazardous and combined with 30 mile per hour wind gusts, resulted in some prolonged outages throughout the service territory.

As of 4 p.m. Saturday, the cooperative was working to restore power to under 100 members.

“We’re committed to our members,” said Joe Cataldo, Vice President of Operations and Construction for the cooperative. “We’ll continue to work until everyone’s power is restored.”

Cooperative personnel began responding to storm-related outages just before midnight Friday. Crews worked through the night and day clearing fallen limbs and trees to restore outages in Accomack and Northampton counties.

“We had crews prepped and ready to jump on outages as soon as they started coming in,” Cataldo said, “I’m proud of the work our folks are doing in incredibly harsh conditions.”

At the height of the storm about 5,000 co-op members were without power. In total, cooperative personnel responded to about 15,000 individual outages, many of those were members who experienced multiple outages during the weather event.

“We appreciate our members’ patience while we worked to restore outages during the storm,” Cataldo said. “We know it can be frustrating to experience an outage, have it restored, only for the power to go out again.”

Heavy snow, combined with wind gusts caused tree limbs to sag and sway. Those limbs would strike power lines, causing outages to repeat in some areas. In addition, winds swept snow drifts across roads, making it difficult for cooperative personnel to reach outage locations.

The cooperative anticipates some lingering scattered outages to persist until the winds completely subside.

The cooperative urges its members to continue reporting their outage and any damage to electric utility equipment, or any objects that may potentially damage equipment. Report these issues by using our SmartHub app or by calling 757-787-9750.