The massive decade-ending snowstorm that blasted Boone County and most of West Virginia and the East Coast of the United States left in it’s wake downed power lines, interrupted phone service and disrupted Christmas festivities for many.

The storm that struck Boone County late on December 18th dropped snow in amounts ranging from eight inches in the Madison-Danville area to upwards of 18 inches in the Wharton/Bolt Mountain section of Boone. Boone County Emergency Services Director Greg Lay said the snow didn’t hamper driving for long, but left many residents without electric and phone service for as little as one day and for some, utilities had not yet returned on Sunday evening, Dec. 27.

"As of Sunday afternoon, we had less than 100 homes without electric service," Lay said. He seemed confident at press time that most residents had seen electric service restored.

The tendency of Boone residents to assist those in need was proven during the storm with an outpouring of volunteers determined to provide a warm place to stay, a hot meal and some genuine caring to victims of the storm.

Lay said the county opened three shelters in the aftermath of the storm. Those included the Madison-Danville Nutrition Center, which was later transferred to the Madison Church of God, located at Lick Creek. "Rev. Stacy Dingess and his congregation volunteered to take in the folks in our shelter and give them a place to keep warm till they could make arrangements. I’d like to thank those folks for the help they gave us."

He said scattered numbers of residents sheltered at the Van, Wharton and Morrisvale Community Centers throughout the past week. "The power outages were scattered throughout the county, so most people were able to reach a shelter."

The director also lauded the city of Whitesville for opening the Salamey Building, allowing it to be used as a temporary storm shelter. Many people stayed with residents, while others just fled the area entirely and enduring the cost, stayed in motels in Boone, Logan and Kanawha Counties. As of late on Dec. 20, the vast majority of motels in Kanawha County were filled with families fleeing freezing temps.

“The number of people without power has been fluctuating a lot. Sometimes when they turn the power on for some who have lost power, the power goes out for other people,” Lay explained.

According to Lay, crews from six other states have been called in to West Virginia and are helping out to bring power back to the region.

On December 26th, eight days after heavy snows fell, a line of trucks were seen still attempting to restore service to residents of the area surrounding the Rock Creek Transfer Station. For many, service had not been restored late last week due to reports of criminal activity. Representatives of American Electric Power told news media that copper thieves took advantage of fallen power lines to steal the valuable metal inside the cables. At press time, however, Sheriff Rodney Miller said the Boone County Sheriff’s Department had yet to receive any reports of stolen copper cables from electric service lines.

“We’re just now coming back from nine days without power,” said Lindytown holdout Lawrence Richmond.

85-year old Richmond and his wife, Quinnie, were virtually stranded in Lindytown when the winter storm hit and their power went out soon after.

“We had about 17-inches of snow. We kept warm by a three-burner stove,” Richmond says.

“We had a bit of a problem keeping food in the fridge from spoiling - took all the food out and put it in the snow outside.”

When asked if the Richmonds were in need of anything, he replied, “I need to be younger, but we’re doing fine.”

Lay said the silver lining in this recent severe weather event was that there were few injuries. "In fact, we can only determine that there was a single storm related mishap," he said. "It appears one electric service installer broke his leg while restoring power."

For the near future, residents can breathe a sigh of relief that there are no reports of serious winter weather in the near future.