RICHMOND, Va. -- In the basement of the Virginia State Police headquarters, the Joint Information Center is coordinating recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, with contributions from FEMA Public Safety and other state and federal partners providing the latest updates on the damage sustained in Southwest Virginia.
After a brief show of gratitude, Governor Glenn Youngkin delivered a debrief on the situation, characterizing the storm's impact.
"This was a comprehensively damaging storm," Youngkin said.
At the height of the storm, over 300,000 residents were without power.
As of Friday, 97% of power has been restored to the region.
The challenge now is getting the remaining 1,370 people restored in the most difficult-to-reach areas.
"AEP [Energy], which is the primary utility in the area, has 7,000 people working the area," Youngkin said.
Water issues continue to pose a concern, with about 28 water systems still under a boil water notice.
"We are advising the entire region, particularly those customers that are on wells. And to put it in context, there are lots of people in southwest Virginia who are on wells. To be very, very careful," he added.
Transportation challenges have also emerged.
According to the latest assessments, two primary roads and 52 secondary roads are currently impassable.
"Highway 58, which is one of the main thoroughfares, has a mile-and-a-half stretch that is absolutely impassable, and it is a long-term rebuild effort," Youngkin explained.
While 287 cell phone towers were out of service due to the storm, that number has now decreased to just 14, indicating that communication infrastructure is largely back online. Youngkin stated that emergency services have been able to expand their reach to the affected areas.
"This is going to be a long restoration, rebuild process, but I am confident that if we can just keep focused and not allow the standard 'it's been two weeks now and we're moving on to the next issue' to settle in, because I will not allow that to happen," Youngkin asserted. "Southwest Virginia will rebuild stronger than it was before."
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