Power to be restored by Wednesday

As the second winter storm in less than a week approached the Mid-Ohio Valley Monday, crews with Washington Electric Cooperative continued working to restore power to an estimated 1,200 customers who had been without electricity since Saturday.

On Sunday, co-op President Ken Schilling said about half of Washington Electric's 10,000 customers had been affected by the weekend storm.

"We're down to 1,200, and started this morning with 2,000 customers out of power," Jennifer Greene, spokeswoman for the cooperative said Monday afternoon.

The outages are scattered throughout the co-op's service area in Washington, Monroe, noble and Athens counties.

"Trees have been our main problem, as a lot of the snow that fell over the weekend was wet and heavy and caused tree branches and trees to fall onto the lines," she said. "Then the temperatures dropped and everything froze Sunday night."

Greene noted many of the co-op's customers live in areas of rugged, snow-covered terrain that is difficult for repair trucks to negotiate.

"We're projecting full restoration of power sometime Wednesday," she added. "But we're also keeping an eye on the weather, monitoring and hoping for the best. There's not much else we can do. Hopefully this next storm will miss us."

What's next

The National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., is forecasting a possible 6 additional inches of snow today and Wednesday.

"It looks like this system will pass through (today), and precipitation should begin around sunrise," said meteorologist Jeff Hovis.

He said most of the precipitation will be snow, although there could be a brief period of rain sometime during the day.

"We're looking at about 4 inches of snow on Tuesday, and another 2 inches could fall Tuesday night," Hovis added. "Then winds will turn northwest and by Wednesday night there should only be scattered flurries."

Temperatures are expected to be around 30 today and will drop to 20 tonight. Wednesday's high will be in the mid-20s.

Hovis said the next weather-maker of any significance will be a weaker system projected to cross through this area on Saturday.

Greene said co-op officials are encouraging customers still without electricity who don't have an alternate source of heat to seek shelter with friends or relatives until their power can be restored.

She said contract crews from Pike Electric and Asplundh as well as crews from Owen Electric Cooperative in Owenton, Ky., and Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative in Rio Grande are providing assistance to help restore power to Washington Electric Cooperative customers.