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When will the lights come back on? That’s a question dozens of Buckingham and Prince Edward families are asking this morning, after a series of storms ran through the area late Monday night. Storm damage knocked the power out for hundreds of homes and the lights are still out for portions of Darlington Heights, Elam, Prospect and the Arvonia area.  Across the border in Appomattox, things are a bit worse, with more than 290 homes still in the dark, especially in the area around Appomattox Court House. 

Beyond the power outage, there was also plenty of damage done throughout the area. One of the bigger examples happened in Prince Edward, where lighting scored a direct hit on the landfill scales. As a result, the county has closed the landfill until the scales can be repaired.

Lights, meanwhile, should be back on by late this morning, Dominion officials say. They just ask that you give work crews some time. Part of the problem is where the damage happened. Some of these outages stem from downed power lines, out in rural areas. It’s not as simple as just pulling up to a pole on the side of the road. Instead, to repair some of these lines, it means going offroad. As a result, the current estimate for power to be back on is between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. for those around Elam and Prospect. Over in the Darlington Heights area, most of the power is back on by now, with just a handful left. Those should be finished no later than 11 a.m., Dominion officials say. 

The portions of Appomattox still in the dark, which includes the American Civil War Museum and sections around Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, might take a bit longer to come back on. Work crews have been dispatched to the Route 460 corridor but the cause of the damage hasn’t been identified there just yet. 

Beyond storm damage, flood watch extended

Meanwhile, the flood watch for Farmville and the surrounding area has been extended until midnight tonight, with another round of storms expected around 7 p.m. 

“Scattered storms (will) again develop this afternoon and evening, bringing a threat for heavy rain and flooding,” said the National Weather Service out of Wakefield, in a statement released just before 6 a.m. Tuesday. This is shaping up to be a wet week, with flooding possible through Saturday, weather officials warn.