POWER RESTORED AEP Officials Say Power Restored To Customers Affected By Copper Thieves
Reported by: Bethany Simmons
Web Producer: Bethany Simmons
Also Contributing: Kristin Keeling
Reported: Nov. 29, 2012 7:34 AM EST
Updated: Nov. 29, 2012 3:01 PM EST
EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO C L I C K T O P L A Y
Kanawha City
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
American Electric Power reported Thursday afternoon that power had been restored to customers affected when thieves stole copper from wires at a substation.
The power outages that occurred early Thursday morning affected about 3,000 customers from the 35th Street Bridge in Kanawha City to the South Ruffner area. As of 2:10 p.m., the AEP website did not show any of those customers without power.
American Electric Power said thousands of power outages in one part of the Kanawha Valley Thursday morning occurred after thieves stole copper from a substation.
The theft happened at the AEP compressor substation located on Chesterfield Avenue in Kanawha City early Thursday morning, AEP spokesman Phil Moye said. Police responded to the substation about 5 a.m.
Moye told Eyewitness News that someone broke into the substation and removed copper off the wires, causing 3,000 customers from the 35th Street Bridge in Kanawha City to South Ruffner area to be without power. In addition, all stop lights along MacCorkle Avenue in the affected areas were out, and motorists were advised to treat all stop lights as four way stops until they are back on.
Workers were trying to restore power, but Moye said it was a dangerous situation due to extensive damage and such high voltage wires. Workers were trying to alternate substations so that customers could have power. As of 10:30 a.m., there were still more than 1,700 customers without power.
Charleston Area Medical Center and schools in those areas have not been affected. Keep checking wchstv.com for updates.
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