HARRISONBURG VA: (Rocktown Now) – Thunderstorms packing damaging wind gusts toppled trees and power lines across the Shenandoah Valley on Monday afternoon and overnight, leaving thousands without electricity across the region. According to Dominion Energy’s outage map, more than 16,000 customers were without power across its Virginia service territory Tuesday morning. Rockingham County remained one of the hardest-hit areas with approximately 1,813 customers without power, while Augusta County reported 866 outages and Albemarle County led the region with about 3,338 customers affected.

Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative crews also continued restoration efforts Tuesday morning. SVEC was reporting about 606 customers without power across its service area, with the largest concentrations in Page County (247 outages), Augusta County (191 outages), and Rockingham County (105 outages). Utility officials said broken poles, downed trees and damaged lines slowed restoration efforts in some locations.

Storm damage reports received by the National Weather Service included a large tree falling onto a home on Gum Street in Grottoes, more than 20 trees down across portions of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and a measured wind gust of 64 mph near Broadway. In Shenandoah County, reports indicated about 10 trees were down in the Seven Fountains area.