TAMAQUA -- Not even 8 o`clock and the McDonald`s in Hometown sat dark.
As Sandy marches towards the Keystone State, employees here say they got marching orders to close up early.
“We`re usually open all night but tonight because of the hurricane and everything, we decided to close,” said employee Ronald Bridyghan.
“Usually we`ll have snow on the ground, couple inches, 5, 6 and we don`t even close but this rain`s coming down,” said employee Adam Weiss.
Across the street, the Beacon Diner was also shuttered and down the road in Tamaqua, other businesses were the same.
“It`s a ghost town in this place right now,” said one resident, out running errands.
Still there were some die-hards staying open.
At the Tamaqua Diner the few customers here were grateful for that.
“Since the diner`s open, we figured we`d stop by in case the power goes out later, we`ll be here tonight,” said Donna Barron of Tamaqua.
Unfortunately it hasn`t been a money maker of a day for the staff here.
“I`ve been here since 4 o`clock and I`ve had one table,” said waitress Becky Broad.
Surprisingly employees at the McDonald`s say they were busy, as orders for burgers were in high demand.
“Even the local police, they came around, they ordered 20 double-cheeseburgers, we ran out of meat and everything.”