A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter got stranded in West Virginia on her way back from a South Carolina beach, having missed all of the news about powerful storms that ravaged the state the night before. She was running out of gas and all of the gas stations and restaurants on the interstate were without power.

She found some good ol' mountain hospitality.

"But, the people of West-by-God-Virginia trumped Nature's whims. She could have her way with her wind and her hail but they would have their say, too. And what they had to say was 'Sit down and have a cool drink and let us help you find your way home.' "

Read her touching tale here.

State officials gave their approval today to build a 49-turbine wind farm in Eastern North Carolina that critics worry could cause bird kills of bald eagles as well as tundra swans and other migratory birds that like to roost nearby at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge when visiting the state for the winter.

The N.C. Utilities Commission said it had no legal authority to deny approval to the Pantego Wind Energy Facility, which would spread over 11,000 acres in Beaufort County. But the state commission said the project can't go ahead until it receives state and federal environmental permits and meets other strict conditions, conditions that could delay the project for months.

The Pantego wind farm, proposed by Chicago-based Invenergy, would feature turbines reaching nearly 500 feet into the air to the tip of the blade. The blades could achieve rotational speeds well exceeding 100 miles per hour, which is a chief concern to naturalists and environmentalists who wanted more research on bird migratory patterns before approving the project.

The commissioners, who are appointed by the state governor, wrote that weighing the environmental risks and benefits of green energy "is at times a delicate risk, one that might require some risk of change in the natural habitat of wildlife."

But the commission said the Pantego project demonstrated "proven environmental benefits of reducing fossil fuel generation."

Progress Energy expects to restore power to about 95 percent of customers impacted by Hurricane Irene by midnight Tuesday, the Raleigh company said in a release.

Some customers in the hardest hit areas --including Zebulon, Selma, Spring Hope, New Bern, Jacksonville, Morehead City and Kinston -- could not see final repairs completed until Thursday.

Progress crews have restored service to about 330,000 customers since the storm first arrived on the North Carolina coast Friday.

About 120,600 customers remained without power as of 8 p.m. Sunday night. The largest number of outages were in the following counties: Craven, Carteret, Wayne, Nash, Onslow, Lenoir, New Hanover and Franklin.

At the peak, a total of 280,000 Progress customers were without power Saturday afternoon.

During the storm, 14 transmission lines and 22 substations were damaged, Progress reported.