Morning All, Power is on one minute, the next it is gone. Did not know my phone was working until my sister called to check on us,parts of Kentucky is being called a Disaster Area, Daviess County, where I live at,Muhlenberg County, where my sister lives at , will not have power back on for any where from 3 weeks to 6 weeks.Hopkins County, really dreadful,Ohio County, and so many others are completely without power and will not be back on for weeks.Ice every where, trees falling from all the ice on them, homes destroyed because of trees falling on them. no place to go for many families, some of the Red Cross are beginning to check on some of the elderly to make sure they are safe , have food, and are warm.Some have no one to check on them, so if you have a neighbor who you thinks needs help, check on them, I have heat, I cook by gas, so I can turn my oven on for heat, we can also cook,but - the stores are all closed as well as the service stations ...so people are going out of state to buy gas and fuel for their generators , those that have them , that is. My sister had to drive all the way to Tennessee to buy gas, she had to, she is a nurse and as we all know at times like this we sure need all the help they can provide for the ones who need it. I could have went to a shelter,but prefer to stay here at home,with me just having surgery,I don't need to be out in the public with my throat cut - can't you just see all those people asking questions and staring at me(SMILE) It is really bad !!! Take Care and Stay Warm. Connie *In Beautiful Western Kentucky* ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara Van Hout" <dutchtreat@prodigy.net> To: <Kincaid@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:35 PM Subject: [KINCAID] Nearly 1M still without power in ice storm's wake : This news about last week's ice storm in Kentucky reminds me of Hurricane Katrina. What is the response from FEMA? : : How is Connie and her family doing---do they have power yet? : : "Utility crews renewed work in subfreezing temperatures Saturday in their effort to put the power back on for nearly a million customers left in the dark by an ice storm that crippled parts of several states this week. : Thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky awoke in motels and shelters, asked to leave their homes by authorities who said emergency teams in some areas were too strapped to reach everyone in need of food, water and warmth. : : A 20-degree temperature boost was forecast across much of the region, a boon to the power crews but one that carried with it the threat of flooding. : : Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. About 536,000 homes and businesses across Kentucky were without power, down from more than 600,000 the largest outage in state history, surpassing the damage last year from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. : : The outages disabled water systems in much of the western part of the state, where some in rural areas resorted to dipping buckets in a creek. Authorities warned it could be days or weeks before power was restored in the most remote spots. : : That uncertainty had many appealing for help. Officials issued curfews Friday and urged those in dark homes to leave. : : "We're asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can't service everybody in our shelter," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom spent a fifth night sleeping in the town's elementary school. : : Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. : : In Kentucky's Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees. He said roads are littered with fallen trees and people shivering in bone-chilling cold are in need. : : : "We've got people out in some areas we haven't even visited yet," Smith said. "We don't even know that they're alive." : : Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm. : : "I'm not saying we can't handle it," Smith said. "We're handling it. But it sure would have made life a lot easier." : : FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some agency workers had begun working Friday in Kentucky and more help was on the way. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to such facilities as hospitals, nursing homes and water treatment plants. : : "We have plenty of folks ready to go, but there are some limitations with roads closed and icy conditions," she noted. : : >From Missouri to Ohio, thousands were waiting in shelters for the power to return. Others were trying to tough it out at home. : : In Poplar Bluff, Mo., a man used a barbecue grill inside to cook and keep warm, deputy police chief Jeff Rolland said. : : "Luckily, one of our volunteers was in a position to see what he was doing and inform him of the carbon monoxide dangers of using a charcoal grill inside a residence," Rolland said. : : The storm that began in the Midwest had been blamed or suspected in at least 42 deaths, including 11 in Kentucky, nine in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning. : : President Barack Obama on Friday declared a federal emergency for Missouri, making the state eligible for federal funds even as power outages lingered in much of the southern portion of the state. : : In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear said crews were working around the clock to restore power and get food and water to needed areas. : : "We are pulling out all the stops, using all of our resources and devoting our entire energy to this emergency and we will continue to do so until the last home has power, the last road is cleared and the last family is safe," Beshear said. : : Laura Howe, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the organization had opened more than 34 shelters for some 2,000 people. : : Doris Hemingway, 78, spent three days bundled in blankets to ward off the cold in her Leitchfield mobile home. News that it could take up to six weeks for power to be restored sent Hemingway and his husband, Bill, into a shelter at a local high school. : : "I'd pray awhile and I'd cry awhile," Doris Hemingway said. "It's the worst I've ever seen." : : --- : : Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Leitchfield; Dylan T. Lovan, Rebecca Yonker, Brett Barrouquere and Janet Cappiello Blake in Louisville; Betsy Taylor in St. Louis; and Randall Dickerson in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.