Virginia Beach, Va. - More than 100,000 people were without power in Hampton Roads and Northern North Carolina because of Thursday’s storm.
One area hit hard was Virginia Beach where around 20,000 power outages were reported.
Several businesses in Towne Center had to close down with no lights.
Michaela Lewis was working inside Coastal Edge at the Pembroke Mall when she heard screams inside the mall as everything went black.
“We knew the power was out for good,” said Lewis.
Unlike most stores in the mall, Coastal Edge stayed open.
“We are running all our sales manually, so we are hand-writing your receipts,” said Lewis.
Smokey Bones Manager Chelsea Moneymaker said they also ran credit cards the old-fashioned way when the lights went off. Unfortunately, there was not a plan B for running the grill with no power.
“We actually just offered our guests chips and salsa, gave them tea and water, whatever we had,” said Moneymaker.
Utility workers want residents to remember to turn off appliances when the power goes off, that will help reduce the occurrence of fires once power is restored.
