GOSHEN - The road to Goshen was long and icy, a rugged path to a remote community pummeled by a juggernaut snowstorm.

Digging themselves out Wednesday afternoon, residents there said they measured between 12 and 14 inches of snow - enough to knock down trees and power for the town, and for much of the rest of Rockbridge County.

They weren't alone.

Much of the region north of the Roanoke and New River valleys woke up Wednesday to a similar sight, the aftermath of a wintry system that swept across the area and into central and northern Virginia Tuesday night.

"It's like it all hit at once," said Robert Foresman, Rockbridge County's emergency management coordinator. "We have widespread power outages."

Foresman operated from a makeshift command center in the Lexington Police Department . They were not immune. Just before 10 a.m., the station lost power and switched to generators. By 6 p.m. Wednesday, more than 2,800 Dominion Power customers in Rockbridge were still in the dark, forced to rely on wood stoves and blankets . BARC Electric Cooperative reported more than 5,000 of its customers were without power in the county.

A television mounted on a wall displayed footage of a Central Virginia man, wrapped like a Mount Everest Sherpa, trudging through knee-deep snow.

Foresman smiled and shook his head.

Sitting nearby in the lobby, Lexington City Councilman George Pryde was lacing up a pair of winter boots.

"I just came to see our city manager, to see if they needed any help," Pryde said. "The further north you go the worse it is."

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday declared a state of emergency and ordered government offices closed at 1 p.m. McDonnell warned that areas hit hardest might also experience even more damage from the heavy winds forecast for Wednesday night.

Nearly 200,000 utility customers across the state were without power, a number expected to rise, he said.

Virginia State Police said they responded to 367 traffic accidents during the storm Wednesday afternoon, but no fatalities were reported.

Totals of 5 to 14 inches of snow were reported in Alleghany and Rockbridge counties. Some parts of Botetourt County reported as much as 5 inches.

Snowfall varied across the Roanoke Valley from 1 to 4 inches, with less than 2 inches in most of the New River Valley. It was a stark difference from counties to the north, where cedar trees sagged under the weight of snow and bowed to the slippery roadways.

On Virginia 780, past the community of Little California and running along the edge of the George Washington National Forest toward Goshen, some of those trees gave way, falling and blocking the road until someone such as Ricky Jarvis of Kerrs Creek came rumbling along in his tractor. Jarvis said he had been out since 8 a.m., shoving aside heavy tree trunks and layers of snow.

Five miles ahead, in Goshen, postmaster Nancy Gervasio said no mail came into the town Wednesday. That didn't stop her from hand-delivering outgoing mail to a functioning office in Craigsville, 10 minutes north. The roads there were "a little rough," she reported.

Along the nearby Furnace Hill Road , Elizabeth Lotts was standing in the snow with a leash. At its end, Lilly, a 6-month-old Jack Russell terrier, bounced around Lotts' feet.

"We're just staying warm," she said. "We don't have any electricity, we lost that about an hour ago."

She said her family had resorted to using a wood stove for cooking and heat.

"I just finished heating up some spaghetti for the kids to eat for lunch," she said.

At the nearby Goshen Country Store, where the mercury hugged the 30-degree mark outside, Tammy and Brian Riley were business as usual, only in the dark. A healthy crowd came in and out of the front door, people hungry for basic snacks and conversation.

"Cash only," Tammy Riley said to a customer. "The credit card machine is down."

A man in coveralls and a camouflage cap approached the register.

"Anything to drink?" Timmy Alphin queried.

Riley pointed to a refrigerator of sodas.

"I need something stronger than that!" Alphin joked, claiming he rose at 4 a.m. to start plowing the neighborhood.

Amid the gossip and chatter inside the store, one thing was unanimous: The power would likely be out for a while. But this didn't seem to bother the group, a decidedly chipper bunch. They were resolved to enjoy the snow.

Staff writers Kevin Myatt and Michael Sluss contributed to this report.

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