A few customers who tried to eat at Dairy Queen Sunday were confused when the door was locked and the drive-thru shut down.

Power outages throughout Abernathy kept most restaurants from opening, and residents experienced loss of power for over 14 hours.

After some severe storms interrupted electric service for about 2,500 homes and businesses, Xcel Energy crews worked all day to remove the 12 poles on the distribution line that were heavily damaged. First, they had to clear away debris so they could make the repairs.

Meanwhile, employees at the local Dairy Queen had to frantically salvage their frozen food.

“We came in early and basically loaded everything up as fast as we could and drove to Lubbock as fast as we could, that way we could keep it in a freezer that was still on and keep the food products,” Geneva Natal said. “So the food was fine.”

They did lose some of the ice cream to the heat, but were more worried about the meats and the frozen products that cost the most money.

“The Dilly Bars, the DQ Sandwiches and the Starkisses…those that we pre-make and put in the  novelty case? Those were gone. Melted. We had to throw them all out,” Natal said.

The Blizzards were safe.

“We make the Blizzards each time, so by the end of the night since we had already closed down and everything was put away,” she said. “All of the blizzards and machine were fine.”

Dairy Queen wasn’t alone.

“You know a lot of the businesses were closed, the Dairy Queen, the Lowe’s grocery store, a couple of other convenience stores and the restaurants were, just because of the power.” Abernathy Fire Chief Kelly Vandygriff said. “They had to do something…either coolers or generators or something.”

Vandygriff said he saw at least nine of the poles down on the south side of Abernathy.

“The main power lines kind of run around the railroad tracks basically, and so they were out repairing those this morning. We saw the Xcel crews out as soon as we got up and moving, about when the sun come up.”

The power didn’t come back for most people till around 3:15 p.m.

The Dairy Queen threw out the melted ice cream, but it was back to business as usual. Their doors reopened at 5 p.m.

“We’re just setting up as if we were starting in the morning,” Natal said.