Preparing for severe storms is an annual event for Dominion Virginia Power. Electric distribution employees are cross-trained, shelves are stocked with needed materials, managers practice real-time, "what if" storm scenarios, and logistics personnel develop detailed plans to meet every possibility. It's preparation, preparation and more preparation.

Then, along came Hurricane Isabel on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2003. With peak winds of 107 mph, Isabel churned across virtually the entire Dominion Virginia Power/Dominion North Carolina Power system.

Dubbed by some as the region's "storm of the century," Isabel roared into northeast North Carolina and Virginia, wreaking havoc and knocking out power to more than 1.8 million of Dominion's 2.2 million customers. In Hampton Roads, 612,818 of Dominion Virginia Power's more than 645,000 customers were in the dark.

By the time Isabel made landfall, Dominion Virginia Power had already assembled a restoration work force of 7,000 employees, mutual-assistance crews from other utilities and contractors, and had stockpiled materials. It issued safety information to customers through news releases and radio spots and called 10,000 special-needs customers directly.

At dawn on Sept. 19, it was apparent that Dominion faced a great natural disaster. The call went out for reinforcements and the storm recovery team swelled to more than 12,000. Help came from as far away as Texas and Canada. By the end of the first day after the storm, service had been restored to 600,000 customers.

Initial restoration work focused on restoring power to hundreds of critical public safety and health facilities. Damage to the distribution system was so severe that many areas had to be rebuilt rather than repaired. The company's Web site, customer service representatives and voice response system provided up-to-date outage and restoration information and handled more than 2.5 million calls and Web visits.

After three full days of recovery work, service had been restored to 1 million customers. The company restored 75 percent of service within a week, 90 percent within 10 days, and virtually all service was restored within two weeks of Isabel's departure. Dominion's restoration costs are estimated at $128 million after taxes.