More than a week after the most devastating storm in recent memory, utility workers were continuing to restore services to residences, many of which had been without electricity, telephone and water since the storm passed through the area late Saturday and early Sunday.

Fleming Mason Energy crews were able to restore power to their main line by Tuesday night. Vanceburg Utility crews energized a significant portion of their main line by Thursday night and on to Vanceburg by Saturday morning.

Vanceburg Utilities Superintendent Phil Kennedy said crews working on the main line encountered extensive damage to lines and supporting structures.

Kennedy said some of the worst damage was to towers and lines in the Flat Hollow area near South Portsmouth where Vanceburg Utilities' main line connects with American Electric Power.

Kennedy said a tower that supports a 138 kilovolt line was leaning and had to be repaired. Hundreds of feet of electric line also had to be replaced because it was extensively damaged.

After those repairs were made and the line was energized to Garrison, more severe damage was found where the main line crosses hills near Dry Hollow just west of Garrison.

Kennedy said two supporting structures had to be replaced and new line strung before the main line from Garrison to Vanceburg could be energized.

Crews had been working since Tuesday to clear off and repair lines between Vanceburg and Garrison, and allowed for the lower section of main line to be energized as soon as the repairs were completed in the Dry Hollow area.

The final section of main line was energized early Saturday. Kennedy said the Garrison area's electricity had to be disconnected for a short time while the final section of main line was being connected.

Kennedy said crews working on the repairs were faced with rain, wind, and ankle-deep mud toward the end of the week as they were trying to complete repairs to the main line.

Vanceburg mayor W.T. Cooper said he watched some workers climbing wooden poles had to stop each time they would climb a step to knock thick ice off the pole before they could climb another step.

Workers braved dangerous conditions to repair electric lines.

Mayor Cooper said Vanceburg Utility crews have now split up and are concentrating on areas where there are multiple residences without electricity.

Crews will then begin working on restoring power to single residences until electric is restored to every customer.

A spokesperson with Fleming Mason Energy said the co-op is using the same strategy to get as many customers electricity as soon as possible. No word yet from either utility when they expect to have power restored to all customers. A Fleming Mason spokesman said Saturday that about 4,000 of their customers still remained without power.

Several area businesses scrambled to get shipments of gasoline or diesel powered electric generators and kerosene heaters to supply the demand of businesses and residences.

By Friday, several businesses were operating on at least a limited basis on the generators. Area residents connected the generators to refrigerators and freezers to keep food from spoiling and to provide emergency heat and light.

Workers with Alltel struggled to repair lines and to keep generators going at the telephone offices and substations. The telephone company has battery back up, which lasts several hours but not several days. CSX workers also placed generators where lighted crossing signals and gates are located to keep them operating adequately.

Deputy Mark Snedegar said the tractor-trailer, operated by Kermit Sage, 55, of Brookneal, Virginia, was northbound on the Grayson Spur and apparently didn't realize he was approaching an intersection.

The rig crossed the AA Highway and struck a rock wall head on.

Because of a power failure, there were no warning lights at the intersection.

The driver and passenger, his wife, Wanda Sage, 58, who was in the sleeping compartment, were removed from the wreckage by firefighters utilizing the Jaws of Life. Due to the extensive damage of the tractor-trailer and the rainy conditions, it took about four hours for workers to extract the victims from the wreckage.

Snedegar said both victims were conscious and spoke with rescue workers during the time they were trapped in the rig.

Rescue workers utilized the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver and a passenger in this rig. Both were seriously injured in the Saturday morning accident at the intersection of the AA Highway and the Grayson Spur.

A spokesman with the Vanceburg Police Department said the suspects attempted to break a glass door at Vanceburg Food Mart on Fairlane Drive and successfully broke through a glass door at Vanceburg Sundries and More.

"We think the incidents happened sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.," said Vanceburg Police Chief Joe Billman.