RICHMOND, Va., March 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) crews are fully engaged in restoring service to customers impacted by extremely high winds that entered our Virginia service area late Thursday night and will continue to cause outages throughout the day Friday.

Since 11 p.m. Thursday, 335,000 customers have been impacted and 111,000 have been restored. Currently more than 224,000 customers are without power mainly in the northern part of the state where wind gusts nearing 70 mph have been reported.  Additional line crews have been brought in and we will continue to assess impact and redeploy crews as needed to the more severely affected locations.

Outages are expected to continue throughout the day as the weather system continues to move through our system – and we are prepared to work around-the-clock to restore all customers as quickly and safely as possible. Early damage assessments have been consistent with a wind storm with wire down and broken crossarms. We have also seen small pockets with significant damages with trees down and some broken poles.

Customers are advised that very high winds and rain can cause trees and branches to fall, which may bring down power lines. Beware of any lines that may have fallen or come into contact with trees, debris, or water. Stay at least 30' feet away and make sure your family, pets, and neighbors also avoid the downed wire. Call Dominion Energy right away at 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357) to speak with an agent to report the downed wire.

If your power goes out, please report it at DominionEnergy.com or call us at 1-866-DOM-HELP. The fastest way to report or track an outage is online at DominonEnergy.com using your phone or other mobile device.

Customers relying on portable generators until service is restored should follow the manufacturer's guidelines for installation and only operate them outdoors with adequate ventilation.

About Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,000 megawatts of electric generation, 14,800 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion Energy operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with approximately 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves nearly 6 million utility and retail energy customers. For more information about Dominion Energy, visit the company's website at www.dominionenergy.com.

SOURCE Dominion Energy