RICHMOND, Va. β Richmond residents are breathing a sigh of relief after keeping their power during a winter storm that left hundreds of thousands without electricity in other parts of Virginia.
While many Central Virginia families prepared for widespread outages by stocking up on groceries and considering generator purchases, most were spared the worst impacts of the snow and freezing rain that hit the region.
"I've lived here a long time and this is one of the worst ice storms I think we've had," said Amanda Erickson, a Richmond resident who was relieved her power didn't go out.
During the storm, many residents found themselves repeatedly checking their lights to ensure they still worked. Dominion Energy reported slightly over 1,000 outages across the Richmond metro area from Sunday through Monday, covering Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover counties. Those outages have already been restored.
The situation was far different in Hampton Roads, where thousands lost power.
Erickson said she was particularly concerned about an elderly friend she helps care for.
"I was really worried about one of my good friends who is in her 80s and I take care of her to a certain extent so I was worried about if I had to get to her what I would do," Erickson said.
Fortunately, that scenario never materialized for Erickson.
At Byrd Park, another resident expressed relief at waking up with electricity.
"I was relieved. I looked around and was like alright, everything is still on, and that the water is still working as well," Sophie said.
Sophie shared that she had doubts about keeping power due to all the advance warnings about potential problems from the freezing rain.
"Yes because I feel like there was a bunch of build up about us being potentially concerned that something could happen, and I don't know we could have another freezing rain. I'm not holding my breath," Sophie said.
In Chesterfield, Christopher Hanks was shoveling snow and ice from his car when CBS 6 reporter Kelsey Jones spoke with him. While he didn't panic about potential storm impacts, he said he was glad he prepared in advance.
"You never know what could happen, so it's best to be safe, and just gather all the essentials that you need instead of just thinking like, 'oh, this is just a typical storm,' and not being able to be prepared," Hanks said.
At last check, Dominion Energy had restored power to 85% of impacted customers. Click here for a current look at outages.
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