6pm Wednesday: Families Still Without Power

Restoring Power after Heavy Snowfall

UPDATE 2/22/12 @ 5:30 p.m.
MOUSIE, Ky. (WSAZ) -- On Wednesday, many in Eastern Kentucky were coping without electricity for the third consecutive day.

The power went off Sunday night when the heavy snow hit the lines, causing them to fall.

The trouble spots left are those with the least number of customers affected -- or in the most remote areas. And that's where WSAZ.com found plenty of fed-up folks still in the dark.

"This is wild turkey that I have to throw away," Pat Conley said.

His brother Roy Conley said, “We're heating water in this roasting pan for dishes or to bathe.”

Among a couple of dozen homes up Ball Branch Hollow just outside Mousie, Ky., they say you're either a Conley or a cousin.

For three days, they're also powerless, running too many cords out of overworked generators and throwing out spoiled food.

“If I want to run the microwave, I have to unplug the TV,
or the Frigidaire," Pat Conley said. "And to make coffee it's the same thing."

Roy Conley said, “Sometimes my wife needs her breathing machine. We have to make sure we have power ready for that."

Maglenda Conley sums it up, “You can't clean yourself up, can't clean the house. There’s no heat; it's all getting real old.”

The brothers say the Conley camp is still powerless because a fallen tree down the road is still on top of a scorched power pole, leaving downed power lines scattered everywhere. That's all while deep-woods crews a few miles away made their way toward Ball Branch.

As our WSAZ.com crew left Ball Branch, they passed power crews and tree cutters heading in to replace the burned pole and restoring the downed power lines.

AEP says as of 5:20 p.m Wednesday, less than 300 Pike and Floyd County homes were still without power.

Power was out to more than 34,000 customers across the state after a weekend snowstorm.

As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 6,000 Kentucky Power customers are still without power.

In the Pikeville service area, which includes part of Pike and Knott counties, along with all of Floyd County, there are still 434 people without power. That is expected to be restored Wednesday evening.

In the Whitesburg service area, the rest of Knott County, along with Letcher County still have 1,075 customers without power. That should be back on by midnight Thursday.

And in the Hazard service area, which still has the most outages, including Breathitt, Clay, Leslie, Perry and Owsley counties, there are 4,516 customers still without power. It is expected to be restored Friday evening.

740 workers have been brought into the state to help in the restoration effort.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

There are still 15,000 Kentucky Power customers with no power as of Tuesday afternoon.

At last check, Kentucky Power's website says customers in the Hazard service area, which includes Breathitt, Clay, Leslie, Perry and Owsley counties has 9,647 customers without power. It is expected to be restored by 6 p.m. Friday, February 24.

In the Pikeville service area, which includes parts of Pike and Knott counties and Floyd County, there are 2,818 customers without power. It is expected to be back on by midnight Wednesday.

The South Williamson area, which includes the rest of Pike County and Martin County, has 313 customers without power. The power should be restored to these customers by midnight Monday night.

The Whitesburg area, which includes Letcher and the rest of Knott County still has 2,424 customers in the dark. Power is expected to be restored by midnight Thursday.

As of Monday night, 4,908 customers in parts of Pike, Floyd and Knott counties remained without power because of heavy, wet snow that fell Sunday in the area.

Neighboring southeast Kentucky counties also were affected -- with more than 13,000 customers still without power Monday night in some surrounding counties.

One night without power can be a nostalgic way of remembering how things used to be, but nostalgia doesn't keep the toes warm.

"It's extremely tough,” Pikeville resident Tony Whited said. “You don't realize the things you miss until the electricity is gone."

While about 50 crews have been working in Kentucky to restore power, families are wishing the mild winter would have stayed that way.

Matthew Crisp is waiting out the power outage on his own at his house in Pikeville. His wife and 16-month-old son are staying at his grandparents’ where the power is on.

People who stocked up on food in anticipation for the weather are now stuck to watch it go bad in their freezer. Some charged their gadgets before the storm, but with the extended outage, batteries are running low.

"You can't charge your phone. It can die,” Crisp said. “It can be a little bit of an inconvenience."

While an AEP contracted crew out of South Carolina re-couples, reconnects and restrings downed power lines on a snowy Floyd County hillside, Melissa Collins says with no power since 8 p.m. Sunday, taking care of 3-week-old Trent generates some challenges.

“You have to warm his bottle, but we are getting it accomplished by using our generator and propane heater," Collins explained. "So, we are making it.”

Pike County’s snow-covered Island Creek area is one of many places being scouted by AEP bird dog crews. They lead bucket truck crews in to shake the wet heavy snow off tree trapped power lines. Otherwise, when the power flows back through -- the lines might fry.

“Here you saw where one phase was weighted down from the snow.
If we re-energize it, you're gonna burn that phase and have a bunch of trouble,” said AEP’s Bob Shurtleff.

One of the biggest challenges is accessibility -- getting to numerous snow-covered mountainside trouble spots.

For powerless Linda and Daniel Lusher, keeping the grandkids occupied without TV or video games called for a little puppy love.

“They’ve got their board games and puppies," Linda said. "We sent out to McDonald's and got breakfast, they're doing OK. We've got gas so we're staying warm, but we've got an electric cook stove, so we had to find food this morning.“

Still, grandma is anxious, as are the more than 50 emergency crews working to get the power back on.

In West Virginia -- about 1,000 people across Logan and Mingo counties are still in the dark. But in Kentucky, it's a much more dire situation. Thousands of people are without power -- with Pike and Floyd counties making up about 9,000 of those people. The challenge is finding alternative ways to stay fed and warm.

But more importantly -- when will the power come back on? WSAZ.com checked, and here is what AEP is saying:

For the Paintsville service area, which includes, Johnson, Magoffin and Morgan counties -- power is expected to be back on by midnight Monday.

In the South Williamson district, which includes parts of Pike and Martin counties, power is also expected by Monday night.

But in the Pikeville district, which includes Knott County and parts of Pike and Floyd counties, they say it could be midnight Tuesday before that power is restored.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

According to a press release from the company, the stormed caused major damage to power lines, utility polls and other electrical equipment leading to power outages. Snow-laden trees and tree branches snapped, broke and fell Sunday night and continued to fall Monday, leading to many additional outages.

Kentucky Power workers started restoring power, only to lose it again as snow continued to fall.

According to Kentucky Power, it could be this weekend before all service is restored. More than 340 workers are working to restore the power.

As of noon Monday, approximately 34,146 customers were without power across southeast Kentucky. According to a press release from the company, these numbers can rise and fall throughout the evening as the storm continues to manifest itself.

In the Paintsville service area, there are about 40 customers without power. These customers live in Johnson, Magoffin and Morgan counties. Their power is expected to be restored Monday around midnight.

In the Pikeville service area, which includes residents in part of Pike and Floyd counties, along with Knott County, there are 9,401 customers without power. That is expected to be restored Tuesday around midnight.

In the South Williamson service area, which serves part of Pike County and Martin County, 735 customers are in the dark. Their service is expected to be restored around midnight Monday.

In the Hazard service area, which includes Breathitt, Clay, Leslie, Perry and Owsley counties, 18,004 customers are without power and are not expected to get it back on until noon on Sunday, February 28.

And in the Whitesburg service area, which includes Letcher County and part of Knott County, 5,968 customers are without power. It is expected to be restored in this area by midnight on Friday, February 24.

If you see a downed power line, call 1-800-572-1113 or call your local law enforcement. Kentucky Power urges residents never to approach or touch anything that comes in contact with a downed line.

You can track power outages through American Electric Power by clicking the link on the WSAZ.com Featured Links tab.