Power Slowly Coming Back On For Thousands Of Rural Customers

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Electricity was back on Tuesday to all but about 10,000 homes after this month's brutal ice storm, but some residents found out it could be several more days, or longer, until they

Tuesday, January 23rd 2007, 3:35 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Electricity was back on Tuesday to all but about 10,000 homes after this month's brutal ice storm, but some residents found out it could be several more days, or longer, until they get their power restored.

Second-grade teacher Judy Starkey has been without power for 11 days. The northeast Oklahoma resident has heard several estimates of when her electricity would be back on, but nothing definite.

"Right now, they're saying maybe tomorrow," said Starkey, 43, who lives near Peggs.

So far, she's out at least $1,000 for a generator, gasoline to run it, takeout meals and one night in a motel when things got too unbearable.

The waiting game continued Tuesday for 9,950 customers still without electrical service, the bulk of them in eastern Oklahoma.

At the peak of the Jan. 12 storm, 125,000 homes and businesses were without power.

A break in wintry weather this week helped utility crews restore power to thousands of residents, but officials said it could be a week to nine days before power is back on for some rural customers.

Most of the customers still in the dark receive power from the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, which reported more than 3,700 utility poles down and 11,922 outages in its service area, emergency management officials said. Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative in Vinita reported the largest service disruption -- 6,310.

"We should see that number come down significantly today and tomorrow," said Sid Sperry, spokesman for the Association of Electric Cooperatives. "It's coming down by the thousands each and every day."

Oklahoma Gas & Electric reported 122 total outages, all in the Muskogee area, Tuesday afternoon.

Electricity has been restored to all customers of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which number 514,000 in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma, according to the company's Web site.

By Tuesday, power was back on at Gene and Belinda Gamble's northeastern Oklahoma home, the first time in 11 days.

"It was like manna from heaven," said 64-year-old Gene Gamble, a resident of Rose.

But Gamble's rural neighbors might not be as fortunate. Some have been told it could take until the first part of February until power is back on.

With temperatures forecast to reach the 30s and 40s on Tuesday and climb into the 40s and 50s through Friday any residual ice clinging to power lines and pavements will melt, although a storm system lurking over northern Mexico could bring a fresh round of frozen precipitation to the state, the National Weather Service said.

The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol attribute 32 deaths to the storm. Highway collisions took 19 lives, eight people died of hypothermia, two from smoke inhalation and three from falls.

Troopers reported nearly 500 collisions on Oklahoma roads since Jan. 12, and 3,656 people have been treated at Oklahoma hospitals for various injuries related to the weather, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

A nighttime curfew implemented in two southeast Oklahoma counties following reports of break-ins and the theft of generators that powered railroad crossing guards was lifted in Pittsburg County, officials said.

A 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew remained in effect in McIntosh County.