W.V Vir, NC Hwy routes

[csm101]

Members, We are leaving Friday morning to head down to Disney. I've heard that parts of W.V, Vir, N.C are without power. Can anyone tell me if I-79, Hwy 19, Blue Ridge has spots without power?

 

[cindydare]

Yes, there are still many areas that do not have power. I have friends who traveled home from Daytona Beach on Saturday and the areas with the most prevalent outages were in southern West Virginia (I-77 Beckley area--Tamarack was closed). My cousin who lives in Charleston, WV has not had power since the storms on Friday. We live in the Northern panhandle of WV (northernmost county---west of Pittsburgh, PA) and escaped the worst of the storms.

Another friend was in the Columbus, OH area this weekend.....also experienced power outages.

There is power on the northern stretches of I-79 in WV (another cousin and his wife stayed in a hotel in Bridgeport, WV Saturday before coming to his mother's house--they live in Elkins, WV and his wife's employer put them in a hotel because she was on call for the weekend and they had no power).

As far as I know, some of the I-77 corridor through Virginia into North Carolina is okay. My mom lives in NC, about 25 miles west of exit 73 and did not mention any local outages when I talked with her this evening. My friends who were traveling from Daytona were able to get gas in Virginia--this friend comes back to work tomorrow, so I will ask her for more details as far as the route they traveled.

I would just keep checking the news reports and google some of the local television stations to see what they are reporting.

If I find anything else that may be of use to you, I will post here.

Cindy

 

[Junebugwv]

Power at Exit 44 in Beckley WV is on and services are improving. Still many (including us) without power so we have seen long lines at gas stations and restaurants. Should be fine by the time you travel.

 

[mlg32]

I am not sure of the exact exits but there was an 80 mile stretch at least,( I want to say the exit numbers were 73 and up) off I 77 North in Parkersburg WV and into Ohio with no power/no gas. My family was on the way back to Ohio from SC on Sunday and did not realize there was no power or no gas. We pulled off with 25 miles left to empty to fill up and at first couldn't figure out why all of the stations were closed. We were literally were down to 4 miles left (and in a state of total panick) before a very kind stranger sent us to a 2 pump gas station, the stations closed signs were up and we literally begged the guy. It was the scariest situation ever. I feel really stupid about not filling up at 1/2 a tank but we had no idea WV/Ohio was a disaster area.

It was 80 miles later that we pulled off at a McDonalds that had just got their power back. Also all rest areas were closed in that stretch too. Guess I am just posting to help others. My husband and I were still freaking about it the next day. Literally we would have had to sleep in car or call my parents who were 4 hours away.

I do know that some places had got power back by then but there were long waits for gas(we didn't see them just what the gas station guys told us).