Power Outages Down To About 5,700

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Twelve days after an ice storm knocked down power poles and snapped transmission lines across the state, about 5,700 Oklahoma homes and businesses remained without electrical service

Wednesday, January 24th 2007, 3:42 pm

By: News On 6


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Twelve days after an ice storm knocked down power poles and snapped transmission lines across the state, about 5,700 Oklahoma homes and businesses remained without electrical service Wednesday.

At the height of the storm, an estimated 125,000 people were without power in the state.

Most of those still without power are in remote, rural areas of far northeastern Oklahoma, where power lines are hard to get to and even harder to repair.

"We maintain thousands of miles of electrical line in rural areas," said Sid Sperry, spokesman for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives.

"When our trucks go down the road, theyre not driving on asphalt or concrete. Theyre in pastures and fields in snow, ice or getting stuck in mud."

There are 1,200 electrical linemen working for Oklahomas 30 rural electric cooperative. Of those 1,200 linemen, 450 Oklahoma linemen are working to help restore power to customers in eastern Oklahoma, plus 1,100 linemen from other states.

State officials estimate rural electric cooperatives and the 23 eastern Oklahoma counties hit hardest by the storm received about $39 million in damage. The damage estimate was included in Gov. Brad Henrys request for federal aid.

Temperatures reached into the high 40s and low 50s under sunny skies Wednesday, melting much of the snow and ice that remained from the storm that began moving through the state on Jan. 12.

A winter storm brewing over northern Mexico was forecast to move into Oklahoma and North Texas by Friday afternoon and possibly bring rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service.

This storm, however, isn't expected to dump much precipitation and should exit the area by Saturday afternoon, forecasters said.
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