RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Most living in the Richmond area woke up pleasantly surprised by what little damage Hurricane Sandy left behind.
"Yeah I thought we'd all be without power,” said West End resident Carol McIntire.
McIntire has been next door neighbors and best friends with Ica Johnston since 1949.
The duo shares everything and after the storm they share even more. Late last night a tree came crashing through McIntire’s roof and smashed through Johnston’s kitchen window on its way down.
"I heard a dull thud and I thought it was the wind because it was still blowing," said McIntire.
With repairs now underway on their home, the two are seeing damage elsewhere and feeling grateful theirs wasn’t worse. The Governor addressed the Commonwealth Tuesday and captured that same sentiment.
"I feel very fortunate to report that the worst of the storm is over for Virginia and the state has been spared a significant event," said Governor Bob McDonnell.
McDonnell told Virginians that state leaders are feeling relief that there wasn’t nearly the devastation that was seen in other parts of the Northeast. McDonnell confirmed that Hurricane Sandy claimed two lives in Virginia.
Those two individuals were killed in a car accident that occurred in Richmond’s East End early Tuesday morning. The Governor also claimed that power outages are in relatively low numbers, are concentrated in Northern Virginia and are in the process of being restored.
The Governor also will be extending vehicle and occupational license deadlines until November 9th as opposed to the end of the month in an effort to relieve state agencies from overcrowding.
He’s also asking local registrar’s to add an 8 hours of operation time between now and the election to ensure that no one’s plans to vote got compromised by the storm.
"We're beginning the recovery process pretty well now in our state," said McDonnell.
The Governor also will be extending Virginia’s resources to states that have been hit much harder by the storm than Virginia. He says in the meantime folks here should be good neighbors to those who are recovering.
