McDOWELL COUNTY, W.Va. — Six days after the remnants of Tropical Storm Helene swept through West Virginia, 99% of the 75,000 Appalachian Power customers have had their electricity restored. However, as of Thursday, around 3,700 people are still without power.
Areas like Coalwood and Bluefield continue to show the effects of Helene’s powerful impact, along with several other communities in southeast West Virginia.
While the easier repairs have been made, the remaining outages involve more challenging problems, often in hard-to-reach areas or the final stretch of service.
“I lost a lot of food because of the outage, but that’s just part of life,” said Greg Patsey, a Coalwood resident. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
Appalachian Power has deployed nearly 7,000 linemen and contract crews to restore power, but residents are still dealing with the aftermath, particularly fallen trees.
“A lot of trees are down. I have a couple of hunting clubs here, and I’ve been clearing trees from the roads. It’s been a lot of work,” Patsey said.
Tropical Storm Helene had a significant impact on Appalachian Power, leaving more than 230,000 customers without electricity across Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Still, West Virginia’s challenges are less severe compared to other regions hit by Helene, where the storm has claimed around 200 lives.