Floyd County residents staying warm through wintry mess

FLOYD COUNTY, Va. – Efforts to restore power from the winter storm continue.

Ice and sleet did major damage to trees and power lines, with Grayson, Carroll and Floyd counties being hit the hardest -- and it may take days for the lights to turn back on.

Right now, there are more than 20,000 Appalachian Power customers in the dark.

Around 5 p.m. on Friday, it was sunny but windy and cold in downtown Floyd. But in other parts of the county, there's still ice and power outages.

To keep those still in the dark warm, emergency services opened warming stations at several of the fire departments around the county. There was an opportunity for people to take showers and charge electronics

"A lot of folks here are prepared for these things. They get used to power being out. There's a lot of wood stoves here in Floyd But it's nice to have that ability to go out to charge those electronics so you can keep up with what's going on," said Sheriff Brian Craig of Floyd County.

Ice and several downed trees made for a hectic night for emergency service calls. 

"We had one logging truck that had flipped over. We also had one pedestrian who was out trying to remove some brush from the road that was hit by a vehicle coming up,"said Craig. 

10 News caught up with Hailey Ballinger on her way to work. She lives in Willis and has been in the cold for more than a few hours. 

"More people are losing power. It used to be spotty. When we called to report our, we were the second people on our street and it's been off since 7 a.m.," said Ballinger.  

But she's finding a way to stay warm.

"Wood heat. But that doesn't mean the pipes won't freeze because the water is turned off now. So now we have to worry about that," said Ballinger. 

As it warms up, Sheriff Craig says that doesn't mean you can let your guard down. 

"We do have some wind going on today. Still plenty of ice left on the trees. Things are melting, things are falling still. Just be very diligent in how you are driving," said Craig. 

Appalachian Power estimates power will be back on for all of Floyd County by Saturday at 10 p.m.