CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – With the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season upon us, Dominion Energy is making sure Hampton Roads’ service can brace the storm.

Areas can be devastated when they’re hit by hurricanes, which bring high winds, heavy rain and so much more.

“A lot of the issues that we have are trees being knocked down or breaking cross arms or breaking poles, or bringing a wire down to the ground,” said Taylor Pruitt, lead lineman with Dominion Energy.

Pruitt said there’s a system in place to help fix those problems.

The company’s grid hardening initiative helps ensure the power poles can withstand the storm.

“It’ll help minimize outages and if a tree does fall, it’s designed to – it won’t break,” said Pruitt.

The system is part of an industry standard that started three years ago.

“We’re replacing old poles, old transformers, old crossarms. We’re trimming trees and right a ways and trying to limit the amount of damages we do have to our grid,” said Pruitt, who added that the replacement poles are physically stronger. “They’re set deeper and the crossarms up top, they are different than what we have right there and even on down.”

The new poles make sure workers don’t have to get in harm’s way as much.

Taylor warned, if you see a pole down near you, don’t touch it. Call the police, and if it’s a Dominion Energy pole, call them too.

Dominion has tools and resources on its website to help you prepare for this hurricane season.

They suggest you download the Dominion Energy App before a storm hits. It’s the quickest and easiest way to report an outage. You can also check the status of your outage from the app. It’s available for iPhone and Android users.