Crews Working To Restore Power Across Oklahoma

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma's state of emergency continues and crews are working non-stop to restore power to thousands across the state.

On Sunday, 92,460 utilities customers are still in the dark. One thousand extra electric linemen from six stated headed to Oklahoma to help out.

About 200 additional workers are also staging in North Texas, waiting for word on where to go and where they're needed most.

In the Oklahoma City metro area, very few customers are without power, but it's a different story in other parts of the state.

"We're in no way near the end of this event for those people in Oklahoma who still don't have power," said Michelann Ooten, Oklahoma Emergency Management.

That's why power crews and road crews will be working throughout the weekend. Rural Electric Cooperative residents should expect power interruptions and extended outage times. REC has approximately 200 poles down with numerous line breaks and other equipment damage. Of the 10,000 accounts, over 7,500 accounts are without power.

"Because of the number of outages and the area affected, we recommend that persons with health-related issues make arrangements to relocate should your residence experience an outage," an REC news release stated.

Many areas in southwest Oklahoma are still without power.

"I understand in Altus, the only business with electricity is the Wal-Mart," said Charles Stowe, a member of the volunteer ambulance service in Mangum, Greer County.

People from Altus, Hobart and Hollis have been traveling to Mangum for needed supplies and gasoline, Stowe said.

The City of Mangum has emergency generators that are providing electricity to people in that town, but the city is asking all residents in Greer County to run minimum electricity as everything is being run those generators.

In Duncan, crews are racing to replace power poles that snapped during the storm, and people in Marlow fueled up generators and cars with only one gas station in town open. Residents are taking advantage of emergency shelter open in the town.

Callers from Lindsay said many are without power in that town as well, and some say it resembles a war zone. Some residents said they cannot leave their homes because of downed power lines in yards.

Over in Chickasha, power outages aren't the only problem. Icy tree limbs are breaking and falling in Shannon Springs Park, bringing thousands of Christmas lights down. Millions of colorful lights are strung year-round for the annual Festival of Light. Many will have to be replaced for next year's celebration.