Mon Power getting ready for potential ice in the Allegheny Highlands of WV

The National Weather Service has issued a Freezing Rain Advisory for Bath, Pocahontas and Highland counties among others for late Friday January 13th and Saturday January 14th. After consultation with their own meteorologists, Todd Meyers with Mon Power says that they’re preparing for the possibility of a significant amount of ice in the Allegheny Highlands.

“We’re planning on a potential that could actually hit maybe late tonight into early Saturday morning, maybe the worst of it between 2am and dawn tomorrow,” said Meyers, “with the conditions lingering throughout the weekend. What we’re seeing is the potential at the higher elevations, we’re looking at the potential for somewhere between a quarter and a half an inch of ice. “

Meyers says that at the quarter inch mark, they begin to worry about power lines coming down either from ice on the line itself, or on trees that fall onto the lines. He wants to assure Mon Power customers that they are preparing for the worst. He said customers need to be prepared for outages that may last for several days.

“It can very difficult for our trucks and crews to get around initially when there’s still a lot of ice on the road,” he said. “We do have 4 wheel drive trucks and we do have chains on the trucks. It can be very hazardous, sometimes we can’t even get out to do some of the work for a while, so it is important that people are prepared to take shelter in their for a period of time.”

Meyers reminds folks to make sure you have plenty of water on hand, as well as food that doesn’t require electricity to prepare. Also, don’t bring in camping stoves, grills or other equipment designed to used outdoors to provide a heating source as these can be very dangerous when used in a closed space. And flashlights should be used rather than candles which can be a fire hazard. He said they are bringing in extra crews for the Marlinton and Elkins offices who will be ready to respond to potential outages.

“We’ll have regular Mon Power crews there and ready, more than we would have on a normal Saturday,” said Meyers. “Additionally we’ll have damage assessment crews; they’re the ones that go around and spot what’s going on and what kind of equipment we need to use to fix things or what kind of supplies we might need. We’ll have tree trimming crews out there.”

Additional crews from outside of the listening area will also be on standby to help if needed. With temperatures predicted to range from the low 30’s to the low 40’s we could get ice, rain, sleet or snow or a mixture, so it’s best to follow the Boy Scout motto and Be Prepared.