The Patrick County Office of Emergency Management this afternoon at 4:00 opened an emergency shelter in Meadows of Dan to accomodate those residents who are without power due to the icy weather Tuesday night and Wednesday.

At the height of the current outage, county Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Allen said up to 1,500 Appalachian Power customers in Patrick County (about 10% of the total in the county) were without electric power. The emergency shelter is located at the Vesta Rescue/Meadows of Dan Vol. Fire Department on Rt. 58 in Meadows of Dan. A buildup of 3/8 of an inch to one-half inch of ice on trees and power lines resulted in widespread outages in the mountainous areas of Patrick County. At last report 1,168 Patrick County Appalachian Power customers were without power. Let's pray that their electricity will soon be restored and that no one has to endure prolonged suffering as a result of the icy weather that brought down trees and power lines primarily in the Meadows of Dan/Vesta areas. As reported by WHEO News 1270am, Richard Rogers.