At about 7:00 this morning lost all phone, internet and TV service. Had power and was able to reset the A/C to where it was keeping the house cool. Family was aware that we had a sever thunderstorm go through and that there were over 1 million people in our area that lost power. That trees had been blown down by 80 mph winds all over the place. They were also aware that prior to the storm I was having problems keeping the house cool last night.

Found out that a large area of Prince William County, VA plus areas of surrounding counties had also lost cell phone and 911 service. Got in truck to see if I could drive to some point and get cell service. One half mile from the house found the road half blocked by a downed tree that had pulled the phone lines to the ground. Drove to the town police department to find all the cars parked and no one in the office. Then drove to the closest fire department to report the tree problem. Drove another 10 miles seeking a cell signal. Drove to a Verizon store to report the problem to be told that they were in the same kettle and that the problem was much larger then I realized. Gave up and returned home after buying gasoline for the generators.

It was extremely frustrating to be unable to contact any member of the family to let them know our status. Was worried about both boys in regards to their power status. One of my neighbors had a land line working but when I tried to use it received a message that phones were out in the areas I was calling. My youngest son took it upon himself to drive the two hours to check on us. Major brownie points. He arrived at 2 pm just as our cell phone service was restored. It took another two hours to get land line, internet and TV service.

We are more spoiled then we think. Something goes wrong, pick up a phone and call for help. Only if nothing works, what do you do then? We did keep informed by listening to an all news station on a FM radio. Though it was just about the time our service was restored that they announced the problems with the phones.

Glad to hear all is well on your end PP.

This is a perfect example as to why people need to stock up, Mother Nature can be a relentless bitch at times.
Whether it's a flood, fire, horrific winds, quake, or terror attack, or all the aforementioned occurring at the same time, being prepared should be first on the list.

Very happy you and family are ok PP.

Happy that you and yours are safe and sound, PP. That same system rolled through here (Ohio) yesterday afternoon; my power just came back on a couple hours ago. AWESOME lightning -- AM radio, which I listen to a lot, was useless for about two hours because of the static. No major damage at the Tbone compound, other than a few of my sweet corn plants face-down in the mud. Oh, and the patio umbrella is no longer with us. (I wonder who has it now...) I talked to the lineman who fixed our problem (a tree branch across a service drop had blown a breaker and severed the drop) and he said he'd been on the job since around 4 p.m. yesterday without a break.

tbone0106 glad you're okay and have had your service restored. Sorry about the umbrella, my next door neighbor is searching for his American Flag and pole.

Solar and walkstall thanks for the well wishes.

Had it suggested to me on another forum that if I had a ham radio and license I could have used that system to get mail to an email address. Not sure of the logistics of that but I'll look into it. It assumes that the proposed recipient has power to run their computer system and that the internet is up and running in their area.

Lesson learned, don't put all your eggs in the same basket. I am a Verizon wireless and fios customer. Verizon and ATT cell phones were involved in the outage, others were working. Had generator running and connected to the RV Travel Trailer with A/C running if house system went down again. Plenty of food and water on hand. Decision made to stay in place, not fully knowing road and power conditions in possible bail out areas.

I am most thankful that I never lost power and now have all communication systems up and running with the exception of the land line being somewhat flaky. I'm in better condition then millions of others.

Even a set of good walkie talkies would have helped, you could have talked to locals or listened to Ch-19 emergency and found out more about the situation at hand.
Then again, you could always pick up a used ham set and screw the license, no one is going to refuse you help if you don't sing on with your number.