370,000 customers lost power in historic ice storm in Oklahoma

 

Utility companies say an estimated 370,000 customers lost electrical power in this week’s ice storm that literally put much of Oklahoma in the dark.

Most of those who lost power lived in the western half of the state but included a large segment of Oklahoma City.

OGE reported it has 2,500 personnel on the streets as crews from other utilities in Texas and nine other states arrived to give assistance in restoration of electrical power.

Power lines could be seen downed throughout the region, weighted down by up to an inch of ice that also devastated trees. In many areas, tree branches snapped under the weight and in some cases, took down the power lines. Some trees had collapsed under the weight, crashing onto homes and parked cars.

 

“We are actually mobilizing additional resources and will continue to do so until we have everyone up and running,” David Kimmel with OG&E told News 9 TV.

“We get them repaired, fixed and up and then other areas get hit by the incoming storm, then we see those outages grow,” said Kimmel.

Most of those who lost power are customers of OGE. But rural electric cooperatives suffered damages and outages as well, leaving an estimated 76,000 customers without electricity.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported an estimated 33,000 of its customers lost power in the storm.

 

What made this particular storm different from Oklahoma’s long history of ice storms was that it occurred in October when most trees still had their leaves. The ice not only covered tree limbs but also the leaves and the additional weight resulted in destroyed trees that brought down power lines.

Source: News 9