Power Outages in McDowell County, WV
Is there a power outage in McDowell County, WV right now? No. As of October 19, 2026 17:55 UTC, no outages are reported by Appalachian Power Co in McDowell County, WV.
McDowell County, WV is served by 1 tracked utility. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 30.9 hours.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/west-virginia/mcdowell-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 17:55 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in McDowell County, WV", live data as of October 19, 2026 17:55 UTC. https://massoutage.com/west-virginia/mcdowell-county
No active outages are reported by Appalachian Power Co in McDowell County.
Report an outage in McDowell County, WV
Report it to your electric utility; MassOutage can't take reports. For a downed line, stay at least 35 feet away and call 911.
97%of this county's ~10,499 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
| Utility | Feed | Out | Served | % out | Small outages | Incidents | Utility ETR | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Power Co | Live · county | 0 | 10,224 | 0.0% | - | 0 | - |
Appalachian Power Co reportsevery town in the county on each poll, so 0 out is a real all-clear. ETRs are the utility's own estimates.
Electricity-dependent residents
HHS emPOWER · data October 7, 2026Medicare beneficiaries in McDowell Countywho rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment (ventilators, oxygen concentrators, home dialysis, powered wheelchairs, and more). HHS reports counts of 1–10 as “≤11”. Medicare only, so the full at-risk population is larger.
By ZIP code (15)
| ZIP | Power-dependent | Ventilators | O2 concentrators | Home dialysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24801 | 95 | ≤11 | 83 | ≤11 |
| 24892 | 70 | ≤11 | 64 | ≤11 |
| 24850 | 67 | ≤11 | 56 | 0 |
| 24844 | 67 | ≤11 | 62 | ≤11 |
| 24868 | 56 | ≤11 | 48 | ≤11 |
| 24872 | 54 | ≤11 | 51 | 0 |
| 24884 | 49 | ≤11 | 46 | 0 |
| 24873 | 42 | ≤11 | 37 | ≤11 |
| 24828 | 27 | ≤11 | 24 | ≤11 |
| 24853 | 24 | ≤11 | 21 | ≤11 |
| 24879 | 21 | ≤11 | 18 | 0 |
| 24815 | 20 | ≤11 | 18 | 0 |
| 24881 | 19 | ≤11 | 14 | ≤11 |
| 24836 | 14 | ≤11 | ≤11 | ≤11 |
| 24816 | ≤11 | 0 | ≤11 | 0 |
Emergency managers can request identified beneficiary lists through their state health department via the HHS emPOWER program.
Outage began, grew, restoration estimate changed, restored: by email, Slack, Teams, Discord or signed webhook, for McDowell County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for McDowell County right now.
McDowell County has been under 46 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Frost Advisory on October 19, 2026.
- Flash Flood Warning ×10
- Flood Watch ×9
- Special Weather Statement ×8
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning ×6
- Wind Advisory ×4
- Frost Advisory ×3
Latest McDowell County, WV outage updates
A running log of how this outage has changed, updated automatically as utilities report in.
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 4h 51m
- IMPROVING
Improving: down to 64 customers out
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began: 506 customers out (4.5% of the county)
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 11h 50m
- RESTORATION ETA
Restoration now estimated September 24, 2026
- RESTORATION ETA
Restoration now estimated September 24, 2026
- RESTORATION ETA
Restoration now estimated September 24, 2026
- RESTORATION ETA
Restoration now estimated September 24, 2026
Hardest-hit cities in McDowell County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in McDowell County went about 30.9 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 6,797 customers.
The US EIA reports West Virginia utilities averaged 16.9 hrs without power per customer (SAIDI) in 2025, a cross-check on our county estimate of 30.9 hrs.
Worst year here was 2024 (peak 4,886 customers out) · decade average 22.1 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 323 | 2,673 | 16.2 |
| 2016 | 343 | 2,448 | 14.1 |
| 2017 | 372 | 6,797 | 30.1 |
| 2018 | 471 | 4,048 | 24.9 |
| 2019 | 397 | 2,391 | 10.0 |
| 2020 | 460 | 1,915 | 12.3 |
| 2021 | 367 | 1,551 | 13.7 |
| 2022 | 387 | 2,369 | 22.8 |
| 2023 | 425 | 2,423 | 17.7 |
| 2024 | 450 | 4,886 | 50.0 |
| 2025 | 511 | 3,073 | 30.9 |
Cost of power in McDowell County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for McDowell County, customer-weighted across the utilities serving it (US EIA, 2025). Retail prices aren't published at the county level; this is a derived estimate.
- Appalachian Power Co17.0¢347,654 cust
Weighted by each utility's residential customer count (utilities report customers at the state level; a per-county share isn't published). Rising retail prices track a national demand surge; see energy & the data-center boom. What that adds up to each month, by state and utility: average electric bill.
Relatively Moderate high winds exposure · 22.1 hrs/yr of outages over the last decade.
FEMA rates this county’s social vulnerability very high: outages hit harder where communities are less able to respond and recover.
All hazard rankings →Power outages in McDowell County: FAQ
- How often does McDowell County, WV lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, McDowell County, WV logged 511 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 30.9 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in McDowell County, WV?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 6,797 customers without power, beginning March 1, 2017 and lasting about 5d 7h.
- Is there a power outage in McDowell County, WV right now?
- No. As of October 19, 2026 17:55 UTC, no outages are reported by Appalachian Power Co in McDowell County, WV.
- Which utilities serve McDowell County, WV?
- Tracked electric providers include Appalachian Power Co.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within McDowell County.
24808, 24811, 24813, 24815, 24816, 24817, 24826, 24828, 24830, 24831, 24836, 24843, 24844, 24846, 24848, 24850, 24853, 24855, 24861, 24862, 24866, 24868, 24871, 24872, 24873, 24878, 24879, 24881, 24884, 24887, 24888, 24892, 24894, 24895
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported. Territory is filed by county, so these are the utilities with lines anywhere in McDowell County, not the one at a given address. All electric companies in West Virginia →
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Power Co | 18.0 hrs | Live · county | Outage map ↗ |
Data from DOE/ORNL ODIN, DOE EAGLE-I, EIA Form 861 (utility reliability), EIA electricity retail prices and FEMA National Risk Index, every source we read. Historical figures derive from the DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I dataset (EAGLE-I tracked roughly 0% of West Virginia customers). Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/54047 and /api/v1/counties/54047/history.