CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation and Dominion Energy told News 3 they would be bracing for winter weather by monitoring the roads and outages in the area
With the possibility of rain and snow mixture, VDOT said they'd be watching weather conditions on the state-maintained roadways and respond when needed.
Cars on the road are being asked to give VDOT crews space and be cautious of locations where pavement might freeze like bridges, overpasses, and shaded areas.
Jeremy Slayton with Dominion Energy said crews are ready to respond to power outages due to snow, rain and wind.
"One of the things you try to think about is the snow accumulating on trees, bringing tree branches down or bringing those trees down onto power lines another situation could be the accumulation on the lines itself," explained Slayton.
This year Dominion Energy has been ensuring the strength of their infrastructure by using a few programs that include under-grounding power lines in outage-prone areas and grid hardening.
"In certain areas we have been replacing poles with stronger sturdier poles replacing cross arms and, in some cases, putting more poles aligned so that it makes the grid much stronger," said Slayton.
Dominion Energy is reminding customers to report downed power lines and stay at least 30 feet from them as they could be energized and cause harm.
Outages in neighborhoods can be reported and monitored on the Dominion Energy mobile application.
Virginia and North Carolina customers can also call 866-DOM-HELP (866-366-4357).
