After the morning rush had died down on Friday, Dec. 12, Dave Chouinard, owner of Robie’s Country Store, said he was amazed at the amount of coffee he had just served on a weekday.

“We had five times the normal amount,” Chouinard said. “I’ve sold so much coffee."

The ice storm, which ravaged New England on Dec. 11 and 12 and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power in New Hampshire, was to be blamed for Chouinard’s spike in business. Locals were just looking for a warm place to sit and something hot to drink. “Everyone’s just wondering how long the power outages will last,” Chouinard said.

Perhaps longer than anyone anticipated, as of Monday, Dec. 15 – four days after the storm hit – Al Dionne, Hooksett’s emergency management director, said 45 percent of the homes in town were still in the dark. According to state reports, Dionne said it could be the end of the week before power is restored to all places in Hooksett.

Peggy and Jim Levesque of Hackett Hill Road in Hooksett rehashed the harsh storm – some say the worst in 25 years – during their morning at Robie’s on Dec. 12. Although the Levesques had heat, the power outage was certainly an inconvenience.

“We had to get several trees out of the way to get down the driveway,” Peggy Levesque said.

Jim Levesque added they did not bother calling the power company about their individual outage saying, “They know about it.”

Carol Carey, also at Robie’s that Friday morning because of the downed lines in her Hooksett neighborhood, was more worried about her mother-inlaw who lives in a mobile home park in town. Carey said several senior citizens live in that community and an extended period of time without power or heat could prove very dangerous.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait it out,” Carey said.

Restaurants all along the Route 3 corridor between Pembroke and Hooksett were experiencing high volumes of customers that Friday morning, mainly drawing from the residents who had lost their power from the ice storm the night before.

Tracy Blanchett, a waitress at Renna’s Café in Suncook Village in downtown Pembroke, said as soon as they opened, the whole restaurant flooded with residents who were trying to find a warm place to eat breakfast.

“This place has been slammed since 8 a.m.,” said Blanchett. She said that although her Pembroke home did not lose electricity, two of her three adult children who live in Allenstown have lost power and are temporarily hunkering down – along with their pets – with her.

“Everything is just up in the air,” she said. “I am so thankful I have electricity because I have to cater a party tomorrow and I have only made one dish so far.”

Blanchett’s plans aren’t the only ones that have been uprooted by the storm. Pembroke resident Dan Chase, who ate breakfast in Renna’s Café with his wife, Wendy, on Friday morning, said he has had to reschedule several appointments.

Chase said their house on North Pembroke Road lost power and heat at about 10:10 p.m. Thursday night.

“I have a heat backup. I just don’t use it until I have to,” Chase said. “It’s a wood stove in the basement. I just don’t want the place to freeze up. I have no idea how long this will last.”