More than a month after ice storm, all electricity back on

Friday, March 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Nearly 40 days after an ice storm knocked out power to more than 255,000 Oklahomans, all electricity has finally been restored, the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives said Friday.

The handful of residential customers who remained without electricity had their electricity restored late Thursday, Cimarron Electric Cooperative officials said.

``I anticipate all the cleanup to be done by fall or winter,'' said Tom Garrett, the cooperative's general manager. ``There are a lot of poles and wires our crews left in ditches while they were working that need to be removed.''

Although there may be some weak spots in the miles of new power lines, the system is stable, Garrett said.

At the height of the storm, almost 12,000 Cimarron customers were without power, mostly in Kingfisher, Blaine, Logan, Canadian and Garfield counties.

Damage to public and private property as a result of the Jan. 30 storm could exceed $150 million.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department estimated last week that storm victims had filed nearly $40 million in claims with local insurance companies. The cost to repair public roads, buildings and infrastructure, as well as remove debris from cities, could top $106 million, according to figures from the Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management.