Okmulgee Gets Hit Hard By Winter Ice Storm

OKMULGEE, OK -- East Central Electric Cooperative based out of Okmulgee is working to restore power to about one-thousand customers there.

A thicker glazing of ice in that area is weighing down tree limbs and threatening power lines.

The numbers of those without power in the Tulsa area are starting to climb slowly.

Further south, sporadic outages are keeping folks pretty busy.

Through the eye of the camera lens it is easy to get lost in the dizzying beauty.

Mother Nature is a beguiling mistress, both picture perfect and the very picture of destruction.

However, in Okmulgee, the tree limbs got tangled up in a web of power lines coming down with enough force to rip the meter right off the wall.

Branches are now encased with fingers of ice and the snow is saturating branches making them that much heavier and making a tougher job for power crews.

"Cutting trees and putting up wire, phasing ‘em down and burning ‘em down," said Rex Young, East Central Electric. "Not as easy as people think."

Crews have been working since dawn to keep the power flowing.

They say their focus has been on the trees and keeping them off the lines.

However, they have not seen ice-laden lines snapping or utility poles cracking like in previous storms.

"Nothing compared to past storms. They always talk about 2007. This ain't nothing like that," Young said.