Friday, December 21, 2012--5:40p.m.
MADISON--We found Bruce Chevis and his neighbor Fred Williams as they were shoveling themselves out from yesterday's winter storm. "This whole neighborhood was out power three times yesterday," said Chevis. "Couple times were a half hour and then right about dusk for about four hours it was out completely."

But that didn't stop Chevis from having fun while the storm rumbled on. "We went over to a local restaurant and had a couple of beers and talked to neighbors and then came back and had a nice meal by candlelight, so it was great," he said.

Williams said he was getting ready to sleep on the couch. "We were sort of prepared to get that ready and sleep in front of the fireplace," he said.

Luckily, their power came back on around nine last night, but Madison Gas and Electric told us that about 1,100 customers were without power over night. "We had, overall since the start of this yesterday morning, we had over 12,000 people that were out of service," said a company spokesman.

They expect to have power restored to all customers by tonight, but they're asking anyone without power to make sure and contact the company. "It's important to contact the utility and let them know that you don't have power and that way you can get in their queue," said Parisi.

As the utility crews continue working to restore power, others are working to restore drivable road conditions--and the total storm cost to the county isn't likely to be cheap: "We still have a couple more days of work to do between plows, first responders," said Parisi. ".....We could be seeing a seven figure number for this storm."