Claremore Faring A Little Better Than Surrounding Cities

Residents in Claremore were more fortunate than others on Monday night. Like most Green Country neighborhoods, there were still tree limbs everywhere. The News On 6's Chris Wright reports, unlike many other cities though, the lights are on in most Claremore homes.

"We've restored power to most of the community," said Claremore Assistant City Manager, Matt Mueller.

While most of the lights were back on for a while, there were still plenty of problems. The cold weather stalled cars.

"First time, it's never died, bought it brand new. That's life I guess, when it rains, it pours," said Rogers County resident Wes Viddauri.

The ice storm also left tree limbs everywhere. Claremore resident Dorlene Bradshaw lost a tree she and her husband planted 20 years ago.

"I hate to see it go because it shaded my house and it was really nice to have," said Bradshaw.

Weighted down by ice, residents say limbs started falling late Sunday night and continued to come down Monday afternoon. Miraculously though, most missed major power lines.

"It's not been a good one, started at 3:30 a.m. hearing everything, sounded like the sky was falling, 4 o'clock I'm out here with a chainsaw, cutting limbs off my car," said Claremore resident Travis Whitfield.

The city of Claremore says for now it has restored power to most homes in the town, but as huge limbs continue to fall every couple of minutes near power lines, they say that situation may change soon.

"Just because we've got the outages under control right now doesn't mean that a second phase of outages can't come as the temperatures drop with the trees as the way they are," said Rogers County resident Wes Viddauri.

Emergency Management officials say that a quarter of homes in Claremore were without power Monday night and it could be two to four days before they get it back.

The city has set up a shelter for storm victims at First Methodist Church.