Ice storm leaves 11,000 without power

CORDELL, Okla. (AP) -- Ice-coated powers lines and trees kept rural electric cooperative crews busy trying to restore power to an estimated 11,000 customers in western Oklahoma, the latest target of this winter's ice storms.

Freezing rain pelted the region late Saturday and early Sunday, collecting on power lines and trees from Enid to Woodward, and as far south as Hollis, officials said Monday.

"We've had crews out there working since 8:30 Saturday night,"

said Dennis Krueger, general manager of Kiwash Electric Cooperatives, which serves 5,800 homes in a five-county region.

About 3,000 of Kiwash's customers had no power, officials said Monday.

"A number of those power lines were fixed, but then broke again with another wave of ice," Krueger said."We've been taking calls non stop."

Power lines that didn't fall under the weight of clinging ice were knocked down by ice-laden tree branches.

"People are without power, and that's bad," said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman with the state Civil Emergency Management Department. "But fortunately this is not as bad as the Christmas Day ice storm where families went without power for long periods of time.

"Many of the co-op agencies are assuring us they hope to have power restored soon."

At its height, the Dec. 25-26 ice storm left 170,000 customers without power for days. The system that spawned that storm and others over a period of several days was blamed for at least 27 deaths. So far, there have been no reports of deaths related to the weekend storm, which spared the eastern two-thirds of the state.

Ooten said 3,000 homes had no electricity in the Cimarron co-op district based in Kingfisher; 2,000 in the Caddo district based in Binger; 1,500 in the Harmon district based in Hollis; 1,500 in the North Fork district based in Sayre; 3,000 in the Kiwash district based in Cordell, and 200 between Enid and Woodward.

In the Oklahoma Panhandle, 14 inches of snow left U.S. 54 virtually impassable over the weekend. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol recommended that drivers avoid the road, which runs from Kansas to Texas through Guymon.

In Beckham County, city crews struggled to clear debris from streets in Erick. About 300 students in the Erick School District got Monday off because of hazardous conditions.

"Things are getting better," City Clerk Judy Barker said. "A lot of residents went four or five hours Sunday without electricity, but we got our power back about 2 a.m. It just looks like a mess around here . . ."

The ice storm did not damage the region's wheat crop, one of Oklahoma's largest cash crops. Late planting this season meant the wheat was not exposed fully to the ice.

"It's kind of like frost bite," said Dirk Webb, a Washita County agricultural agent with the county's extension office.

"If we had been two or three more weeks further along, and we would have had some hollowed stem showing, then it might have been devastating to the crop. But were still in a vegetating stage."