Power Crews Making Progress: 77,781 Still Lack Power

By Jeff Billington, Tulsa World, Okla.

Jan. 18–Crews working around the clock continued to gradually restore power to thousands of Oklahomans, many of whom have been coping for days without heat or running water.

At least 75,000 customers remained without electricity Wednesday, down from about 100,000 statewide Tuesday.

Some communities still had no running water because they lacked electricity to operate pumps or treatment plants.

Officials said the Army Corps of Engineers was distributing 100 industrial generators to the hardest-hit areas, with contractors from the Oklahoma National Guard assigned to install, maintain and fuel them.

Albert Ashwood, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said the state would request a major disaster declaration after it completes a required assessment of damages. The assessment is under way, he said.

The storm that blasted the state Friday through Sunday has been blamed for at least 23 deaths, most from automobile accidents.

As of Wednesday night, 842 people were staying in about a dozen Red Cross shelters managed by the Tulsa Area Chapter.

The Salvation Army’s canteens from Sapulpa; Muskogee; Fayetteville, Ark.; and Fort Smith, Ark., were deployed to help with feeding and to provide blankets, cots and water to affected residents, said the organization’s spokeswoman, Cindy Fuller.

The Salvation Army is working with the American Red Cross’ mobile feeding units, helping to provide meals for shelters in Pryor, Langley, Grove, Jay, Locust Grove and Kansas, Okla.

The Salvation Army’s outlets in Muskogee and McAlester are still without power, and in McAlester, a tree fell on a Salvation Army building, caving in its roof, Fuller said.

Power update: AEP-PSO reported that more than 20,000 customers were still without power Wednesday. The hardest-hit area was McAlester, where almost 10,000 were without electricity.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric reported that almost 15,500 customers were without power, mostly in and around Muskogee.

The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives said almost 40,000 of its customers were without power. The hardest-hit areas were Vinita, with almost 15,000 in need, and Okmulgee, with a little more than 9,000. The association said more than 2,040 utility poles were down in its service areas.

At least 12 power lines were reported down Wednesday about eight miles east of Checotah on Interstate 40, causing additional headaches.

OG & E’s spokesman Brian Alford said lines fell on both eastbound and westbound lanes of the interstate, which caused traffic to be detoured until the lines could be removed.

“It’s slow going, and with problems like the downed lines on the interstate, it’s going to be a while. Not having the sun or warmer temperatures to help melt the ice has put us in a tenuous situation,” he said.

Additional ice or snow forecast for this weekend will not help with the recovery effort, he said.

“We’re hopeful forecasters are wrong, but if we’re going to have additional snow or ice, that’s just going to compound the problems in restoring service,” he said. “It’s not helping us any.”

As of Wednesday, OG & E had replaced 314 poles, 553 crossarms, 12 transmission structures and 40 transmission arms, he said.

Stan Whiteford, a spokesman for American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma, said electricity should be restored by 10 p.m. Thursday to customers whose power outages are not due to downed lines or poles.

But for many of the customers in the McAlester area, the earliest date is Jan. 25, he said.

Generators: President Bush signed an emergency declaration Sunday that delivered federal resources to the state, including generators for public facilities and bottled water for shelters in communities affected by the power outages.

The generators were delivered from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Logistics Center in Fort Worth to the Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester.

FEMA, however, will not supply generators for individual use unless Bush signs an individual assistance declaration, said Earl Armstrong, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Emergency Management.

Such a declaration would have to come at the request of the state, he said.

“Right now, we’re not even near doing something like that,” he said.

Even if Bush were to sign a declaration authorizing individual assistance, only those who can prove that they need a generator for a medically required appliance or equipment would be eligible to be reimbursed, he said.

“What we in the state of Oklahoma are concentrating on is trying to keep people safe and warm right now,” he said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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