Customers Still Out Should Call 1-877-PEPCO-62
to Help Locate Remaining Outages

For Immediate Release
September 26, 2001

Pepco crews, assisted by crews from other utilities, worked through the night to restore power today to all but about 400 customers in College Park and Beltsville, Md., damaged by Monday night's tornado. Severe damage from the storm uprooted nearly 100 utility poles and toppled large sections of power lines serving the area. A total of about 20,000 Pepco customers were without power at its peak Monday night.

Pepco is asking customers still without power as of 4 p.m. today to call 1-877-PEPCO-62 to help pinpoint locations in need of restoration. Pepco will continue to have dry ice available for customers until 6 p.m. today at High Point High School, located at 3601 Powder Mill Road in Beltsville. Pepco distributed 35,000 pounds of dry ice to customers Tuesday.

More than 125 crews have been working 12-hour shifts to restore service. Most of the remaining customers are expected to have power restored by late tonight.

William Sim, Pepco vice president for power delivery, described the devastation from the tornado to Pepco's distribution system as the worst in the company's history in a localized area. Sim credited assistance from neighboring utilities and the closing of Route 1 in College Park to traffic with helping to accelerate the restoration work ahead of schedule. Crews from BGE, Conectiv, Allegheny Power and the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative worked with Pepco crews around the clock to restore service.

For storm photos click here.