Cleanup From Ice Storm Underway In Northwestern Oklahoma

Clean-up is underway in Woodward which was hit hard by the ice storm.  

Folks are dealing with downed branches and power lines throughout the city. The Ice brought down a branch crushing the picnic table where resident Merrell Branstetter used to like to sit in the shade.

"This morning all these trees were all covered with ice. Hanging down. Limbs have been breaking constantly over the past 24 to 36 hours," he said.

Folks say the breaking limbs sounded like the crack of gunfire, taking down miles of power lines.  

"We've got power lines down everywhere. A lot of them are coming back on. Partially pulling away at the weather head and starting fires,” said Lt. JP Shirkey with the Woodward Fire Department. “We had five structure fires yesterday. We've had I don't know how many downed power lines that are arching."

Exhausted firefighters have responded to a record number of calls over the past couple of days.  They've never seen anything like this.

"I've been here seven years and it's...the guys that have been here that are close to retiring are saying that they've never seen anything like this," said Lt. Cody Foster with the Woodward Fire Department.

A small army of line workers is fixing the downed lines. The problem is they still don't know where all the damage is, and once they find it getting to it can be difficult and hazardous. It's impossible to say when all power will be fully restored.

"We do have approximately 85 percent of our system down,” said Jonna Hensley with Northwestern Electric. “That's over 9,000 meters. And at this time our crews are still assessing the damage."