Cold Adds to Muskogee Woes: Thousands Are Still Without Power; Some Are Seeking Refuge at the City Shelter.

By Susan Hylton, Tulsa World, Okla.

Jan. 16–MUSKOGEE — Nature has transformed every last tree and shrub in Muskogee into thousands of beautiful yet destructive ice sculptures.

Ice-coated limbs are bent in agony toward the ground as if someone pulled them there or some giant sat on them.

There are sounds, like shots firing, then the ugly glare of a broken branch. As the limbs crash and fall and shake the pictures on walls, residents hope the fallen limbs will merely slide off and not puncture their roofs or fall on someone outside.

More than 80 people had taken refuge at the city shelter at the Muskogee Recreation Center as thousands remained without electricity Monday.

Eugene Blankenship, director of the county’s emergency management office, said hypothermia is a top concern now as some of the homes without heat for a few days could get as cold as it is outside.

Home-bound people with medical needs, lack of food or heat should contact the county’s emergency management at (918) 682-2551.

Bottles of drinking water were being delivered to residents in Porum and Warner, where there was no power to operate the water plant.

Angela Tarepen was shivering even with a blanket around her. She came to the Muskogee shelter with her husband and two children to eat and keep warm. With no power since Friday, her family’s food had spoiled. They were surviving by staying in one room that had a space heater and candles.

Mayor Wren Stratton said officials’ biggest concern is older people with special needs.

“We need to be reaching out to each other,” she said.

City crews were working as quickly as possible to clear the streets of limbs and logs so crews could restore power.

“The word this morning was they were hoping to have power to everybody in a couple days,” said Jimmy Moore, director of Muskogee Emergency Management. “They’re working really hard on getting that done.”

A swift breeze could finish the job for many trees with broken branches that are still hanging on precariously.

“We’re by no means done with the potential of outages,” said OG & E spokesman Brian Alford.

Cindy Ball lives in one of the few homes in an older area west of downtown that somehow still had power, despite the disarray of fallen limbs in her frozen yard.

“Welcome to the war zone,” she said. “It’s sad.”

Ball shared her electricity by running a power cord from her home to her neighbor’s house where tree limbs covered a pickup truck.

While the ice on the trees is thick, Muskogee’s streets are, for the most part, clear.

Bill Palmieri, owner of Aalco Propane Co., had a steady line of customers filling propane heaters all day long Monday. He also was waiting for help to arrive from Rural Electric Cooperative to restore power to his loading docks so trucks could fill up and deliver to customers.

The storm didn’t spare the city’s beloved Honor Heights Park, where the annual Azalea Festival is held.

“We don’t even want to talk about Honor Heights Park,” said park foreman Richard Randell, who was helping clear residential streets.

It’s impossible to drive through the park due to the fallen trees and branches. Some of the trees are even uprooted, he said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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