Violent Thunderstorms Batter Metro Area; Falling Tree Limbs Cause Power Outages

WASHINGTON - Pepco crews worked through the night and have restored power to more than 15,000 Pepco customers following a wave of violent and damaging thunderstorms with wind gusts in excess of 50 miles an hour that blew tree limbs into power lines causing power outages. The District of Columbia and Prince George's County were hardest hit. To prepare, Pepco monitored the storm's progress, pre-scheduling crews and dispatching them throughout the region as well as calling in extra internal and sustaining crews and support personnel to restore service over the July 4^th holiday weekend.

"Sunday evening's fast-moving storms were quite damaging and our crews have been able to accomplish a great deal of work for our customers," said Thomas Graham, President Pepco Region. "For the most part, the remaining customers without service are single or small groups of customers. To assist with restoring these outages, 20 more bucket trucks arrived this morning from our sister company and area contractors with the goal of restoring everyone by later this evening."

As of 9:30 a.m. this morning, outages have been reduced to fewer than 600 customers.

To report Power Outages and Downed Wires Call, 1-877-737-2662.

Please stay away from downed wires and report them immediately. If calling to report a power outage, a non-life threatening situation, customers are asked to call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) and press one for the automated system.

If reporting an emergency life threatening situation such as downed wires, pole down, etc. customers are asked to please call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) and press two.
The option for reporting an actual life threatening emergency should NOT be used to report non-life threatening emergencies, as it will prevent customers with actual emergencies from getting through to report their situation.

For additional updates, follow Pepco at Twitter.com/PepcoConnect.

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Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 778,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia