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About 163,000 in Missouri still without power after ice storm
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By MARCUS KABEL
Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Hundreds of people hunkered down in emergency shelters Tuesday and thousands more made do in darkened homes as about 163,000 Missouri utility customers, mainly in the southwest part of the state, remained without power after a weekend winter storm.
Frigid temperatures in the single digits forecast for Tuesday night were expected to keep emergency shelters full in churches, fire stations and community centers across the afflicted region.
The State Emergency Management Agency said 85 shelters were open throughout the state, serving an estimated population of more than 3,600 people.
“The number one priority here at emergency management is to provide shelter,” said David Coonrod, presiding commissioner of Greene County, where Springfield is located.
Springfield had three shelters opened with about 1,100 people, and 275 more people with medical issues are at a special needs shelter, Coonrod said.
The Bush administration declared a major disaster area in 34 counties and St. Louis after a weekend storm coated power lines and trees with ice and snow.
The storms that spread ice and sleet from Friday through Sunday contributed to at least nine deaths in Missouri. Seven were traffic-related, with one each in southwest Missouri's Lawrence and Jasper counties blamed on carbon monoxide exposure, state officials said.
Utility company Ameren said power was still out to 18,000 customers in the St. Louis area. The State Emergency Management Agency said 120,000 customers of Empire Electric and various rural cooperatives in southwest Missouri also were in the dark.
In Springfield, the state's third-largest city, about 25,000 of City Utility's customers were without power Tuesday, down from as many as 75,000 of its roughly 100,000 customers over the weekend, General Manager John Twitty said.
“Things are getting better. We are in the recovery phase,” Springfield Mayor Tom Carlson said during a news conference.
But the aftermath of the ice storm continued to affect daily life. The Springfield school district canceled classes for the rest of the week as it repairs storm damage, as did Missouri State University, Drury University and Ozarks Technical Community College.
Power lines still were coated with ice. Broken limbs and trees littered residential neighborhoods, and some intersections were snarled because major traffic lights were out, reducing four-lane crossings to four-way stops.
Scores of rural communities remained with little or no power, and fixing the problem could take days, officials said.
Buffalo, the seat of rural Dallas County about 35 miles north of Springfield, was dark, icy and shuttered Tuesday as it struggled with a total power outage.
“We're planning on this thing lasting into next week at least before we get any power back here,” Buffalo Mayor Jerry Hardesty said.
In the town of 2,800 people, nearly all stores, gas stations and restaurants were closed because they lacked electricity. One gas station reopened Tuesday with the help of a generator, and a farm supply store has stayed open but unlit.
“There are no services,” Mayor Hardesty said. “I've talked to residents who have lived here 50 years and nobody can remember it ever being this bad.”
The town lost about half its power Friday night in the first wave of ice and the rest late Saturday. Its water towers ran dry Sunday and water only began flowing again late Monday, after the National Guard hooked a generator to the pumping station, the mayor said.
One grocery store opened briefly Monday, allowing customers in one at a time to pick up supplies by flashlight, Hardesty said. Cell phone coverage is weak because of ice on area towers. Land lines are mostly working, but cordless phones are useless without power.
SEMA warned that the National Weather Service was forecasting lows Tuesday night in the single digits and a possibility of 1 to 3 inches of snow in the state by the weekend.
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On the Net:
SEMA: http://sema.dps.mo.gov
Frigid temperatures in the single digits forecast for Tuesday night were expected to keep emergency shelters full in churches, fire stations and community centers across the afflicted region.
The State Emergency Management Agency said 85 shelters were open throughout the state, serving an estimated population of more than 3,600 people.
“The number one priority here at emergency management is to provide shelter,” said David Coonrod, presiding commissioner of Greene County, where Springfield is located.
Springfield had three shelters opened with about 1,100 people, and 275 more people with medical issues are at a special needs shelter, Coonrod said.
The Bush administration declared a major disaster area in 34 counties and St. Louis after a weekend storm coated power lines and trees with ice and snow.
The storms that spread ice and sleet from Friday through Sunday contributed to at least nine deaths in Missouri. Seven were traffic-related, with one each in southwest Missouri's Lawrence and Jasper counties blamed on carbon monoxide exposure, state officials said.
Utility company Ameren said power was still out to 18,000 customers in the St. Louis area. The State Emergency Management Agency said 120,000 customers of Empire Electric and various rural cooperatives in southwest Missouri also were in the dark.
In Springfield, the state's third-largest city, about 25,000 of City Utility's customers were without power Tuesday, down from as many as 75,000 of its roughly 100,000 customers over the weekend, General Manager John Twitty said.
“Things are getting better. We are in the recovery phase,” Springfield Mayor Tom Carlson said during a news conference.
But the aftermath of the ice storm continued to affect daily life. The Springfield school district canceled classes for the rest of the week as it repairs storm damage, as did Missouri State University, Drury University and Ozarks Technical Community College.
Power lines still were coated with ice. Broken limbs and trees littered residential neighborhoods, and some intersections were snarled because major traffic lights were out, reducing four-lane crossings to four-way stops.
Scores of rural communities remained with little or no power, and fixing the problem could take days, officials said.
Buffalo, the seat of rural Dallas County about 35 miles north of Springfield, was dark, icy and shuttered Tuesday as it struggled with a total power outage.
“We're planning on this thing lasting into next week at least before we get any power back here,” Buffalo Mayor Jerry Hardesty said.
In the town of 2,800 people, nearly all stores, gas stations and restaurants were closed because they lacked electricity. One gas station reopened Tuesday with the help of a generator, and a farm supply store has stayed open but unlit.
“There are no services,” Mayor Hardesty said. “I've talked to residents who have lived here 50 years and nobody can remember it ever being this bad.”
The town lost about half its power Friday night in the first wave of ice and the rest late Saturday. Its water towers ran dry Sunday and water only began flowing again late Monday, after the National Guard hooked a generator to the pumping station, the mayor said.
One grocery store opened briefly Monday, allowing customers in one at a time to pick up supplies by flashlight, Hardesty said. Cell phone coverage is weak because of ice on area towers. Land lines are mostly working, but cordless phones are useless without power.
SEMA warned that the National Weather Service was forecasting lows Tuesday night in the single digits and a possibility of 1 to 3 inches of snow in the state by the weekend.
---
On the Net:
SEMA: http://sema.dps.mo.gov
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