An estimated 4,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers in the South Boston/Halifax County lost electrical service Monday evening when a band of thunderstorms, accompanied by high winds and heavy rain, toppled trees, snapped utility poles and caused an undetermined amount of property damage.
Some customers were still without power last night while Dominion Virginia Power repair crews from throughout the state worked around-the clock to restore service.
Among those customers without service was The Gazette-Virginian, which had neither electricity nor phone service until around noon yesterday. Even wireless service was disrupted when trees fell across power lines serving a transmission tower.
Several trees fell across power lines in the Centerville area and knocked out power to a number of businesses including those in Halifax Square Shopping Center, homes in the Oak Hills residential subdivision and forced cancellation of all classes at Halifax Christian School.
In the South Boston, Farmville and South Hill areas alone, up to 15,000 customers were without service, according to Bob Foster, operations manager for Virginia Dominion Power.
Foster said that additional service crews were dispatched to the South Boston area to make repairs and restore service.
Around noon yesterday, an estimated 800 customers in the South Boston area were still without power and some service were not expected to be restored until last night.
Across the state, an estimated 90,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers experienced disruption of electrical service.
Mecklenburg Electric officials said that an estimated 1,600 customers in the Chase City area experienced power outages while another 600 in the Gretna area were affected by the storm.
Forecasters had issued storm watches and warnings for the area throughout Monday as they tracked the same weather front that spawned tornadoes, claimed lives and left a number of communities in its path flooded.
Storm-related deaths included a 21-year-old Troutville woman who died when a tree fell on her outside of Roanoke's Victory Stadium.
There were no known reports of injuries in this area but toppled trees partially blocked a number of highways and forced VDOT crews to work throughout the night clearing those roads.
Zack Weddle, VDOT assistant resident engineer in Halifax, said that the most severe damage appeared to have been in and around the Town of South Boston and in the Bethel community.
It was just two weeks ago on May 2, when another storm pounded the area with golfball-to-baseball size hail, high winds and heavy rain.
Thousands of vehicles, businesses and homes throughout the community sustained major damage that is still being assessed.
The storms did, however, bring much-needed rain to the drought-stricken area. Since the beginning of May, a measured 3.66 inches of rain has fallen in South Boston.
Temperatures last night and early this morning were expected to dip into the 40s after climbing into the 80s just 24 hours earlier

Both the GOP and Democrats will hold their conventions this weekend, deciding who will fill the District 5 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two years.
The Depublicans will be holding their convention at Rustburg High School Saturday, and are expected to nominate Rep. Virgil Goode for his fourth consecutive term.
It will be Goode's first term as a Republican.
"Virgil Goode is officially the republican candidate for Congress," confirmed 5th District Chairman Tucker Watkins.
Goode is running un-opposed after switching from Independent to Republican.
He originally was elected as a Democrat, but switched to Independent in January, 2000.
Goode officially became a Republican a month ago when the filing deadline expired, Watkins said.
Watkins thinks that it is the merit of the candidate, not his political affiliations, that make him such a strong opponent for the Democrats.
"Goode doesn't change no matter what label you put on him," Watkins said.
Watkins said that Goode has done much for the district.
"He got Halifax County water and sewer money, and helped the JPS workers get training and unemployment benefits," he said.
The only other piece of business at Saturday's convention will be to elect a district chairman.
Watkins is un-opposed for the nomination.
The delegates from Halifax County who will be attending the convention in Rustburg are;
John and Pat Barksdale
Tucker Watkins
Garland Ricketts
Eric Roberts
Tom and JoAnne Crews
Susan and David Reddy
Gladys Purcell
Ruth Smith
John Greenbacker Jr.
Tom Raab
Grace Seat
William Ozmec
D.J. Oakes
Rosie LeFontaine
Joyce Payne
Watkins added that Sen. John Warner and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore are planning to attend the Republican event.
The Democrats will be sending ten delegates and 2 alternates to their convention at Chatham Courthouse this year.
They will be nominating a candidate to run against Goode at their Saturday meeting.
Two candidates, Charlottesville councilwoman Merideth Richards and Charlotte County truck driver George Shropshire, have thrown their hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination.
"Of the ten delegates, we are sending nine uncommitted and one committed to the convention," said Josephine Marshall, chairman of the Halifax County Democratic Committee.
The delegates from Halifax County are;
Joseph Bailey Jr.
Carolyn Edmondson
Elizabeth Fallen
Virginia Hightower
Cyrus Ferguson
Sue Kennedy
Janet Leatigaga, who is committed to Richards.
Leland Luck
Josephine Marshall
Ethel Stevens
The Democrats will elect their nominee by convention, and are expecting at least 200 delegates at their meeting.

Eighteen teachers chosen by their peers as being the top educator in their respective schools were recognized as Teachers of the Year by the Halifax County School Board Monday night.
One of them, Denise M. Ferrell, a teacher at South of Dan Elementary School, was recognized as Halifax County Teacher of the Year.
"It's an honor I don't how to describe," Ferrell said.
"I love teaching and I really enjoy what I do and I love every one of my students from the two-year-olds to the sixth grade.
"I want to thank all of my colleagues at South of Dan," she added.
School system officials will submit Ferrell's name to the Region 8 selection committee as the county's nominee for regional Teacher of the Year honors.
The Region 8 winner will be included in the pool from which a selction committee will name Virginia's Teacher of the Year.
Ferrell will also serve on the selection committee that will choose the county's Teacher of the Year next year.
Each of 18 teachers who were selected as Teacher of the Year at their respective schools received a $500 award and a plaque from School Superintendent Dennis Witt.
Ferrell received an additional $500 award and a plaque recognizing her as the Halifax County Teacher of the Year, giving her a total award of $1,000.
Recipients of Teacher of the Year Awards at county schools included: C.H. Friend Elementary School, Patricia Hawks; Clays Mill Elementary School, Amy Davis; Clover Elementary School, Ann Clay; Cluster Springs Elementary School, Ruth Emswiler; and Halifax County Career Center, Michael Lewis.
Recipients also included: Halifax County High School, Ronnie Duffey; Halifax County Middle School, Essie Richardson and Halifax Elementary School, Faye Satterfield.
Also, Meadville Elementary School, Susan Appleton; Project IDEA, Carolyn Krempl; Scottsburg Elementary School, Kevin Neal; Sinai Elementary School, Aleacia Peer and South of Dan Elementary School, Denise Ferrell.
Recipients also included Sydnor Jennings Elementary School, David Duffer; Turbeville Elementary School, Jacqueline Armistead; Virgilina Elementary School, Wanda Williamson; Washington-Coleman Elementary School, Donna Elliott and Wilson Memorial Elementary School, Deborah Baker.
"These individuals represent some of the very finest teachers in the school system," Witt said in announcing the Teacher of the Year award winners.
"This is a group that you would be pleased to have your children in their classrooms."
In his remarks to the teachers, Witt said the award is worth every teacher pursuing.
"This award is selected by your peers which makes it more valuable," Witt said.
School Board chairman Steve Anderson, who served as a member of the selection committee, called the selection of the county's Teacher of the Year "one of the most difficult tasks I've had to do as a member of this Board."
He commended all of the teachers who were recognized and concluded by saying "It's a pleasure to know each one of you."

Three county elementary schools will have new principals next year to succeed individuals who will retire at the end of the school year.
Pam Eakes has been named as principal at Washington-Coleman Elementary School in South Boston.
She will succeed Mrs. Biddie Plaster.
Brenda T. Fuller was named as the new principal at Clays Mill Elementary School, where she will succeed Ricky Hunt.
Halifax Elementary School will have a new principal in Catherine T. Glass, who will be the successor to Tom McAdams who is also retiring at the end of the school year.
In another major appointment, the School Board named Robert D. "Frosty" Owens, a former Halifax County High School teacher and baseball coach, as the school system's Instructional Supervisor for Grades 7-12.
Owens will succeed Nelda Hufham who is retiring at the end of the school year.
The appointments were announced by the Halifax County School Board Monday night.
Eakes, the new principal at Washington-Coleman Elementary School, has been a classroom teacher for the second, third and fourth grades at Halifax Elementary and Clover Elementary Schools.
In addition, Eakes has also served as an elementary school guidance counselor.
She has previously served as a Summer School site director, served as co-chairman for a School Improvement team and has been a member of a Textbook Adoption Committee.
Eakes received her masters degree from the University of Virginia in 1984.
Fuller, who will be the principal at Clays Mill Elementary School, has been a fourth-grade classroom teacher at Sinai Elementary School for 21 years.
She has served as a mentor for new teachers, served as a principal's designee and is a cooperating teacher for the Longwood College student teacher program.
Fuller received her masters degree from Longwood College in 1994.
Glass will move to the principal's post at Halifax Elementary School after having served eight years as a classroom teacher in kindergarten, second and third grades at Sydnor Jennings Elementary School.
She served as an administrative/supervisor intern from June 1999-December 1999, served as a principal's designee from August, 1999-June 2001, and served as a member of the Evaluation Instrument Revision Committee.
Glass received her Masters Degree from Longwood College last year.
Owens, a South Boston native, will fill the supervisory position at central office created by Hufham's retirement.
He comes to the job after having served eight years as an assistant principal at three Person County, N.C., schools.
Owens served as assistant principal at Northern Middle School from 1994-2000, served as assistant principal at South Elementary School for two years and comes here after having served as an assistant principal at Person High School for the past year.
In his job capacities, Owens has experience in observation and evaluation of teachers and staff, experience in analysis of test data and experience in development and implementation of remediation programs.
Owens was a classroom teacher at Halifax County High School from 1977-1985 and was a classroom teacher at Person High School from 1987-1994.

The Halifax County School Board has gone on record asking the Virginia High School League to place Halifax County High School in a combination "neighborhood district" and adamantly opposing any move that will bring Pulaski County and Albemarle back into the Western Valley District should the body retain the current three-group district and regional alignment.
Halifax County School Superintendent Dennis Witt forwarded a resolution to that effect to Virginia High School League officials yesterday, on the eve of a meeting of the VHSL Redistricting and Reclassification Committee.
"We will be as adamant as we know how and still be tactful," Witt said yesterday morning.
The VHSL Redistricting and Reclassification Committee meets today in Charlottesville to draw up district and regional alignments for the next two-year cycle that will begin with the start of the 2003-2004 school year.
Formal approval of the R&R Committee recommendations will come in September when the VHSL Executive Committee meets.
Western Valley District officials voted unanimously last Tuesday to support a proposal calling for the VHSL to change its current three-group classification system to a two-group system and create combination "neighborhood districts" for regular-season play.
That proposal would have placed Halifax County in a combination district with schools including GW, E.C. Glass, Heritage High School in Lynchburg, Amherst County High School and Bedford County schools Jefferson Forest and Staunton River.
School system officials embraced that proposal as it would ease the hardships of travel and missed class time Halifax County's student-athletes must endure with frequent trips to Roanoke and other long-distance localities to participate in athletic and academic competitions.
However, hopes that the Redistricting and Reclassification Committee would go along with the proposal dimmed quickly late last week
Halifax County High School Athletic Director Don Thompson told the School Board Monday night he and school principal Albert Randolph spoke with Virginia High School League Executive Director Ken Tilley Friday and that Tilley told them the proposal for a two-group classification structure was receiving no support from others areas of the state.
"He (Tilley) pretty much told us that the state was going to support staying with a three-group classification like we currently are," Thompson said.
That would mean that Halifax County will remain in the Western Valley District with GW, E.C. Glass, Franklin County and Patrick Henry.
Thompson has said on previous occasions that while the school's hardships of long trips and missed class time for its student-athletes will continue under such a structure, that situation could be tolerated, if need be.
However, a disturbing prospect has come into play in the Western Valley District picture.
There are increasingly strong indications that Pulaski County High School and Albemarle High School in Charlottesville will be placed back into the district.
If that happens, the Western Valley District will stretch from Pulaski County to Charlottesville, creating even more difficult hardships of travel and missed class time and an increased financial burden on the school's already stretched athletic budget.
Witt said officials at George Washington High School in Danville and Danville school system officials are consulting with attorneys and may consider legal action against the Virginia High School League depending upon the outcome of today's R&R Committee meeting.
The school superintendent stated yesterday Halifax County officials may take a look at the possibility of joining forces with GW and other schools in a legal action against the Virginia High School League, if the outcome of today's meeting warrants it.
"I think we would look to join GW," Witt said.
"We'd look at joining with them, and maybe Albemarle and Pulaski and have a group approach so that it will become clear to them (VHSL officials) that we have this extreme situation and that there is a solution that does not hurt people and does not change a lot of things."
Pulaski County's student enrollment has climbed enough that the numbers will likely bring the school back up from Group AA status to Group AAA status.
A drop in Pulaski County's numbers resulted in the school being allowed to drop down to Group AA status two years ago.
Albemarle, which left the former Western District two years ago and joined a district that contained Stafford County schools, now wants to come back into the Western Valley District.
"Pulaski County's numbers are now AAA," Thompson said.
"Albemarle (officials) have called me twice about the possibility of coming back into the district.
"Now," continued Thompson, "we will be faced with a real hardship. My message is that we had better get proactive in this."
School Board chairman Steve Anderson asked Thompson what he meant when he said a proactive stance must be taken.
"Get a good lawyer would be my suggestion," replied Thompson.
School Board member Jason Parker agreed that a strong message should be sent to VHSL officials.
"We need to let the state know how we stand on this issue," Parker said.
School Board member Alan Gravitt advocated taking the matter further.
"I think we need to appeal to other School Boards," Gravitt said.
"We need to do this with other school boards, whether it's the Southern Region or whatever. I think we need to press the issue not only with the (VHSL) Executive Committee but also with the school boards of these people who sit on the committee."
Thompson told the School Board that officials at GW and Danville school system officials are consulting with an attorney in an effort to determine if legal action could be taken against the Virginia High School League if the body undertakes a redistricting move that brings Pulaski County and Albemarle back into the district fold.
Larry Clark, a past chairman of the Virginia High School Executive Committee, explained the reason the proposal for the combination neighborhood districts and the VHSL's unwillingness to make major changes.
"They see this (the travel hardships) as our problem, not their problem," Clark said.
"They are not going to make any changes that are going to cause them any distress."
Clark, a former Halifax County High School principal, called it "intolerable and unreasonable" for Halifax County students to have to travel as far as Pulaski County to participate in sports.
This is the second time Halifax County High School officials and the School Board have pressed to get Halifax County into a combination "neighborhood district.
An attempt was made in 2000 when the VHSL undertook its last redistricting and reclassification venture.
The problem at that time, VHSL officials noted, was that not all of the sports seasons were aligned alike through the Group A, Group AA and Group AAA schools.
However, starting with the 2003-2004 school year all sports will be aligned in all three classifications, a move that opens the door for the possibility of neighborhood districts.
The Virginia High School League formed a couple of combination Group A and Group AA "neighborhood districts" at that time as experimental ventures.

Henry Alexander Bouldin

Henry Alexander Bouldin, 54, of 1010 Bagwell Drive, Scottsburg, died May 12 at his home.
Mr. Bouldin was born in Halifax County on May 29, 1947, the son of Deacon Silas Roth Bouldin and Queen Sims Bouldin and was married to Priscilla Simon Bouldin. He was a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church and a member of the Sinai Masonic Lodge.
Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Talithia S. Bouldin and Aravia J. Bouldin, both of Scottsburg; his parents of Clover; three brothers, Ernest M. Bouldin and Gregory L. Bouldin, both of South Boston, and Eric J. Bouldin of Clover; two grandchildren, Dyana Bouldin and Markel Hargrove; his mother and father-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Winfred Simon Sr. of Clover.
Funeral services for Mr. Bouldin will be held May 16 at 2 p.m. at Bethlehem baptist Church with the Revs. James L. Dance and William Dixon officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family is receiving friends at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Owens, 121 Robin Hood Road, South Boston.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider The Aravia Bouldin College Fund, c/o Priscilla bouldin, 1010 Bagwell Drive, Scottsburg, 24589.

James Linwood Gray

James Linwood Gray, 76, of 1066 Memorial Drive, South Boston died May 12 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Gray was born in Halifax County on January 3, 1926, the son of the late James Gray and Mary Jane Wyatt Gray. He was a deacon at Memorial Baptist Church was a WWII Navy Veteran, and a retired employee of Burlington Industries.
Survivors include one sister, Pearl Jenkins of New York, NY; two brothers, Melvin Gray of Brooklyn, NY and Phil Gray of Nathalie; four sisters-in-law, Clara Beasley, Alma Marie Haymes, Elizabeth Gerst and Gracie Gray; and a devoted niece, Gloria Fields of South Boston.

Funeral services for Mr. Gray will be held Friday, May 17 at 2 p.m. at Memorial Baptist Church with the Rev. Richard A. Terry officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Betty Jean Conner

Betty Jean Conner, 67, of Midlothian, died May 13.
She is survived by her husband, Ralph F. Conner; two sons, Gregg Conner and his wife, Kathy and Todd Conner; two brothers, Harvey N. and Roy H. Bomar; two grandchildren, Brett and Morgan Conner. She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Beatrice Bomar.
Mrs. Conner was a life member of Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad (FAC) and a member of Ramsey Memorial UMC where she served as a Sunday school teacher.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. May 16 at Morrissett Funeral Home in Richmond. Burial will follow in Dale Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from 3 to 5 and 6:30 to 8:30 today, May 15, at the funeral home.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad, PO Box 198, Chesterfield, 23832, Bon Secours Hospice, 8580 Magellan Parkway, Bldg. 5, Richmond, 23227, or Ramsey Memorial UMC, 5900 Hull St., Rd., Richmond, 23224.