As severe storms thunder over the mountains from the west into the Shenandoah Valley, thousands are without power in the Staunton area.
Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for southern Shenandoah County, central Rockingham County, Page County, northeastern Augusta County, Harrisonburg, and south central Hardy County in West Virginia.
WHSV's First Alert Storm Team says these storms could bring winds in excess of 60 miles per hour with heavy rainfall and possible hail.
Damaging winds will cause some trees and large branches to fall. This could injure those outdoors, as well as damage homes and vehicles. Roadways may become blocked by downed trees.
As of 3:20 p.m., Dominion Energy reports 2,468 customers without power in Staunton and Augusta County.
The outage seems to be centralized near Route 262 just south of Staunton, leading to 802 outages in Augusta County and 1,321 in the City of Staunton.
That area is expected to have power restored by Dominion between 4 and 9 p.m.
In addition, 339 are without power just north of Stuarts Draft. Power restoration is estimated by Dominion to be between 5 and 10 p.m.
No outages are currently reported through the Shenandoah Valley Electric Co-op.
Some outages, including lights along Burgess Road, have been claimed in Harrisonburg, but not yet confirmed by the Harrisonburg Electric Commission.
Get indoors to protect yourself from wind and lightning. Trees around you may be downed from damaging winds, so if you are near large trees, move to an interior room on the lowest floor. Don`t drive underneath trees or in wooded areas until the threat has passed.
If you face flooding, turn around — don't drown. You can stay with WHSV and check their interactive radar to track the latest movements of this storm.
SOURCE: WHSV