Workers Struggle To Restore Power Across Oklahoma

Tuesday, January 16th 2007, 9:37 am

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- Blankets, board games and space heaters were front and center Tuesday at a shelter where dozens of residents have been staying in a city that has been without power for four days.

"If it wasn't for the shelter, I don't know where we'd be," said Tara Guzman, 38, who was staying at the First Baptist Church with her four children.

About 88,000 homes and businesses in eastern Oklahoma remained without electrical service in the aftermath of an ice storm that began Friday, damaging power lines and apparently contributing to 20 deaths.

No place in Oklahoma has been harder hit than McAlester, where about 14,000 customers remained without power in a city of about 18,000 people.

Power lines were drooping under a thick, icy casing. The crushing weight of ice snapped 100-year-old trees. A small army of workers cut away fallen trees, fixed downed power lines and replaced broken power poles.

Power was restored Tuesday at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, which had been relying on a back-up generator. McAlester Regional Medical Center remained on generator power.

Guzman, who moved to McAlester from the San Francisco Bay area two years ago, said she and her family came to the shelter Monday, after shivering through three days in a cold home.

"We're tough, we lasted from when the power went out until yesterday," she said. "We brought mattresses out in the living room and cuddled."

Many people left town to seek shelter with friends, relatives or hotels that have power, but some hardy residents remained.

"This is one of those situations where you're going to have to grin and bear with it," said Adrian Wilson, 65, as he sat in his Buick Skylark, reading the owner's manual for a chainsaw he just bought.

"I can read better out here than in the house," Wilson said as munched on chips and salsa, his cocker spaniel sitting on the passenger seat.

Josh and B.J. Medley, also elected to stay home. They have electrical generators, a gas stove and propane heaters. B.J. Medley has a $100 worth of groceries cooling on her front porch.

Her only complaint:

"It's hard to keep milk, because milk freezes and goes bad."

Five possible hypothermia deaths were being investigated in Oklahoma City, Chickasha, Tulsa, Delaware County and Logan County, Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the state Medical Examiner's office said Tuesday. A civilian worker at Altus Air Force Base died when he slipped and hit his head as he knocked ice off an airplane.

Fourteen motorists have died in accidents on slick roadways.

Seven of the traffic accident deaths occurred when a minivan carrying 12 people slid off an icy highway early Sunday and hit an oncoming truck just east of Elk City. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said passengers in the van were illegal immigrants being smuggled to North Carolina.

Many schools were closed across the state.

The hardest hit areas were in the eastern half of Oklahoma where repair crews were working to restore power to about 27,000 Public Service Company of Oklahoma customers.

"We have over a thousand people in the field in different areas around the state working around the clock to get power restored," company spokesman Stan Whiteford said.

"A lot of areas will be wrapped up in the next day or so, however, some customers in the most rural and isolated areas may be into next week before we get them taken care of."

"There are a lot of places where virtually everything is destroyed. In some cases, entire electric services will have to be rebuilt."

Oklahoma Gas and Electric reported 15,735 outages, including 9,000 customers in Muskogee.

Another 54,000 rural electric cooperative customers were without power, said Sid Sperry, spokesman for the Association of Electric Cooperatives. He said nearly 2,000 power poles were broken.

"Unfortunately in some areas, the damage is so extensive, it's going to take some time to get consumers back on," he said. "I saw a photo of a susbstation in northeast Oklahoma and it looks like a tornado hit it. The ice damage to the steel structure is unbelievable."

Subfreezing temperatures were expected to continue with little sunshine to aid in melting the ice, said meteorologist Kevin Brown with the National Weather Service in Norman.

"We're going to see a little bit of melting, the sun will be peeking through," he said. "Because we're staying so cold, with what melting we do get there is not going to be a lot of evaporation, so what melts will be refreezing at night."

"But once we get into Thursday and Friday we might see a little more sunshine and a fair amount of melting," Brown said.

Late Sunday, President Bush approved Oklahoma's request for a federal emergency disaster declaration, which allows for federal reimbursement of 75 percent for emergency protective measures by local and state personnel.

Federal resources, including generators and bottled water, started arriving Monday, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

Many main highways were clear, while surface roads were still icy and slushy.