More than 4,000 Dominion Energy customers across Portsmouth lost power Thursday, with roughly 4,500 left in the dark as crews worked to restore service. The outage was attributed to equipment failure.
According to WAVY.com, Dominion Energy crews were assessing the outage and planning to reroute the flow of power to affected areas. The outlet reported that the customer count stood at roughly 4,500 without service as the utility worked through the problem.
Crews Work To Reroute Power
Dominion's plan to reroute electricity is a standard step utilities take when a specific line, substation, or piece of equipment is damaged or malfunctioning, allowing crews to restore service to some customers even before the underlying problem is fully repaired. No timeline for full restoration had been confirmed in the hours after the outage began.
Thursday's outage adds to a string of recent power disruptions across Hampton Roads. Three days earlier, a raccoon that came into contact with electrical equipment at a Dominion Energy substation knocked out power to about 4,000 customers in and around downtown Norfolk, according to the Daily Press. Crews in that case restored power to all affected customers by about 8:30 a.m.
A Pattern Of Wildlife And Weather Woes
Dominion Energy has said wildlife-related outages can strike year-round, with activity picking up in spring and fall as animals forage and build nests, the Daily Press reported. The same report noted that a squirrel caused an outage affecting nearly 3,300 customers in Chesapeake and Portsmouth in June, while a snake triggered an outage affecting about 11,700 customers in Newport News in August 2024, and a squirrel knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers in Virginia Beach back in 2022.
Earlier this month, a much larger outage swept through the region. On October 3, about 20,000 Dominion customers across Hampton Roads lost power, with more than 18,000 of those in Norfolk alone, according to The Virginian-Pilot. That outage was traced to salt contamination on Dominion equipment, activated by rain after salt had built up during nor’easter-related winds, and the paper reported that Dominion said outages could fluctuate with restoration likely continuing into the evening.
The Portsmouth outage was attributed to equipment failure, while crews were assessing the situation and planning to reroute power. Customers looking for real-time updates can check Dominion Energy's outage map for the latest status on restoration in their area.
