Erratic Storm Recovery Effort In Jay

Friday, January 19th 2007, 10:22 am

By: News On 6

Officials from FEMA were scheduled to tour Delaware County Friday, but the team didn't make it there on time. Meanwhile, some Jay, Oklahoma, residents who got their power back, lost it again.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says the steps toward Jay's recovery are kind of like taking steps on the ice, slow and a little shaky.

Ginger Hopkins made a run for the grocery store, but when she got back, she couldn't open the electric garage door.

"When we came home, I went â€˜Oh No!â€™ not again,â€ said Jay resident Ginger Hopkins.

The power came back Tuesday after 3 days out, but now it's off again.

"And then our water went out Sunday afternoon and just came back yesterday morning, so we've had a hard time with it," Hopkins said.

"I know our electricity has been flickering on an off today. It might be from all the ice melting," Jay resident Tim Hall said.

Tim Hall is keeping his fingers crossed, but right now he has everything.

"We got electricity Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night we got a trickle of water and we had good water Wednesday," Hall said.

The water situation in Jay remains dicey. Most residents got it back during the past couple of days, but then Friday at 1 p.m., the pumps went out again. So to be safe, they asking people to conserve."

"I don't like it. But I know everybody's working as hard as they can. We've seen those trucks out here and those people look so tired. I know they're worn out," Hopkins said.

"We're looking at Delaware County, Muskogee County, McIntosh County, and Pittsburgh County. All of the counties seem to have communities in them that are hard-hit by the storms," said Michelann Ooten with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

A FEMA tour of damaged areas was delayed Friday after officials arrived late. But they advise homeowners not to wait to call their own insurance agent.

A common misconception is that people with insurance will get federal aid. They don't.

"If you find out you're underinsured for instance, there might be assistance for you, but your own homeowner's insurance or other property insurance always comes first," Ooten said.

Officials were hesitant to give us exact numbers, or a time frame on the power outages because it keeps going up and down. The water situation is a moving target too. Their advice is to conserve, and you'll want to check with officials to get the latest on whether you need to boil your water.