Local News

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell today issued the following update regarding Virginia’s ongoing recovery from severe storms that struck the Commonwealth June 29-30.

As of 10 a.m., power companies are reporting that approximately 107,300 customers remain without power statewide. Dominion Virginia Power reports 24,096 outages, with 8,900 of those in northern Virginia. APCO reports 81,273 without power, with 18,951 of those in the city of Lynchburg and 10,589 in the city of Roanoke. Electrical cooperatives have 1,975 customers without power.

    A red school bus emblazoned with Sol Food Mobile Farm, rolled into Ellen Mackey’s Bedford driveway Friday morning. The crew, four young adults from Durham, N.C., stopped to relax a bit before continuing their trip to Washington D. C.

    The four, Eliza Bordley, Reid Rosemond, Ellen Duda and Dylan Hammond have been friends since they were 10. They attended middle and high school together, a magnet school for the arts. After high school graduation, they stayed in contact

Bedrock Community Church has set up a free water and ice distribution spot on Peaks Street in front of Bedford Middle School Tuesday morning.

"The church was offered a truck load of ice and water to give out to the community of Bedford," said Jeremy Minor, the church's associate pastor.

Minor said that they want to locate people who don't have water.

Minor said they also plan to go out to worksites.

The Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue has opened a free water distribution center at Bedford Elementary School, according to Jack Jones, the county's chief of fire and rescue.

Jones noted that loss of power has left people, who depend on wells, without power to run their pumps.

"We don't know how long this [power outage] will last," he said.

Jones said that bottled water will be distributed by the case, with no questions asked.