NORFOLK, Va. — Tropical Storm Isaias swept through Hampton Roads Tuesday morning, bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall, and tornado warnings to the area.
A release from Dominion Energy said 508,000 customers lost power in the wake of Isaias.
By 1:30 p.m. Thursday, the number of people without electricity was down to about 8,000 customers, as employees scrambled to fix downed lines. About 6,700 of those customers live in Hampton Roads and North Carolina.
“Just the sheer volume of work locations and damage means we probably haven’t gotten to every location yet where there’s a tree down that needs to be cut," said Dominion Energy spokesperson Rob Richardson. "It’s going to take a couple of days to get the lights back on for everybody.”
In a Churchland neighborhood that lost power, Portsmouth resident Mildred Mills said she's never gone this long without power at her home. It went out around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
“We don’t have any heat, we don’t have any hot water, all my food in my refrigerator is spoiled and I have to throw all that away and it’s just uncomfortable," Mills said.
Richardson said the power in Mills' neighborhood was fixed at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Mills said she's ready to see her neighbors' porch lights tonight.
“I looked out the window last night and it was all blacked out here. It looked like the 'Twilight Zone,'" Mills said.
Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Billingsley Harris said that based on initial assessments, Isaias ranks as the 10th-largest and most damaging storm in Dominion Energy's history.
"We want to remind customers, particularly those in the hardest-hit areas, that this is a multi-day restoration event and they should plan accordingly," she wrote Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday morning, Harris said the company would prioritize repairs in Virginia Beach, where more than 50,000 people were without power Tuesday. As of 1:30 p.m. Thursday, there were 902 people without power in Virginia Beach.
"The hardest-hit areas include Hampton Roads – Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk and Newport News – the Northern Neck, and the Middle Peninsula," Billingsley Harris wrote Wednesday.
She said crews were working around the clock to restore power, and Dominion had brought in support teams from South Carolina all the way to Oklahoma to aid with the recovery effort.
Here's the list so far as of 1:30 p.m. Thursday:
Chesapeake - 534
Hampton - 460
Isle of Wight - 86
James City - 2
Newport News - 2,815
Norfolk - 37
Poquoson - 7
Portsmouth - 518
Suffolk - 609
Surry - 79
Virginia Beach - 902
Williamsburg - 0
York - 558
To report and check outages click here or call 866-366-4357.