VEC outage response to wind event on March 3

A strong storm system moved through the Southern United States on Friday morning, March 3. Although rain didn’t fall in East Tennessee until mid-day, it was accompanied by strong, straight-line winds throughout most of the morning and afternoon. These winds averaged between 40 and 50 mph, with gusts reaching as high as 70 mph. As a result of the sustained winds, over 300,000 electric consumers in Tennessee found themselves without power. Within the VEC 17-county service area, more than 25,000 of our members lost power.