LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Much of Kentuckiana spent the weekend in the dark, after Friday's severe weather knocked out power across the region.
ValuMarket in Mid City Mall lost power, not able to get the store up and running until Sunday. Their location in Mount Washington lost power too.
In a similar situation to many other businesses and neighbors, employees found themselves scrambling to clear out freezers and refrigerators.
"We’re a small family-owned business with four stores and we were down two stores for two plus days," dairy and frozen food manager Mike Whitaker said.
Whitaker said thankfully, they were able to ship some of the food to other store locations. They were also able to donate some items to Feed Louisville.
Meanwhile, in Mount Washington, staff got creative to use up the food, and grilled breakfast in the parking lot for community members who needed it.
Unfortunately, though, Whitaker said they still had to throw away much of their frozen and refrigerated stock.
"You're dealing in bigger mass quantities and always air on the caution of safety because you can't take a chance of letting someone have spoiled food or buying spoiled food," he said.
The power came back on Sunday and the store reopened to customers to sell non-perishable items.
In a reminder that the storms didn't just hit Kentuckiana, Whitaker said one of their main suppliers in Tennessee lost power too, which delayed the restocking process a bit.
"They lost power also during the storm, so it's a matter of when we can get orders in," he said. "We're hoping to be up and functioning and running by tomorrow afternoon."
Whitaker said this power outage wasn't as bad as other storms he witnessed in 2008 and 2009, but that it's still been a powerful reminder of the importance of community.
"Louisville they say is a compassionate city and caring city and in times of crisis that when people come together," Whitaker said.
ValuMarket has orders placed and hopes to be able to restock by Tuesday afternoon.
They are still open during the restocking process.
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