Dominion Virginia Power crews are still working to restore power to parts of Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Many businesses have been without electricity since around 11:00 p.m.
Crews have torn up the pavement in the alley between Charlottesville City Hall and the U.S. Post Office to get the power back on. We're told a pipe in the underground sewer line caught fire, which blew a transformer. Due to the electrical grid, only a few buildings and businesses are still affected.
City Hall and City Hall Annex had the power restored early this morning, but several businesses are still without power this afternoon.
All businesses on the block of the downtown mall including the post office, City Space, and Bashir's Restaurant are still waiting for electricity. The Market Street parking garage is also without power, but the general manager said things are still running smoothly.
"But we are open for business, we're operating manually. We've sort of dropped back a couple of generations, maybe a couple of centuries, but we're operating with brain power fully intact," said Bob Stroh of the Charlottesville Parking Center.
Bashir's restaurant was forced to throw out much of its prepared foods this morning after its cooler lost power. They are also using bags of ice to keep produce cool and turning to other area businesses to keep other foods refrigerated.
Affected businesses have been told power should be restored later this afternoon around 7:00 p.m.
