More than 90,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Monday, more than a week after an ice storm battered Oklahoma, and the emergency has outlasted the ability of many residents to pay for it.
Some depleted their funds stocking up on food before the storm that went bad after the power went out, while others used money to stay in a hotel, thinking power would be restored within a day or two.
"We've had people using generators who ran out of money for fuel to operate the generators," said Vince Hernandez, chairman of the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma.
PHOTO: AP
Hundreds of people found a place to sleep and hot meals over the weekend at a temporary shelter established at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City. Officials reported 349 people stayed at the shelter on Sunday night, down from more than 400 on Friday and Saturday nights.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric, or OG&E, the state's largest electric utility, set up temporary walk-up stations in nine central Oklahoma cities for customers to report power failures.
"We've got eight days without lights," said seven-year-old Josue Velasquez, who came to one station with his mother, Rebeca Rascon, who speaks little English. Josue said they "just sit on the couch and wait for the lights to come on" in their "very cold" south Oklahoma City home.
Rick McCown, a field account supervisor for OG&E, said the company is working overtime to restore power.
OG&E reported nearly more than 56,000 without power, mostly in the Oklahoma City area, while Tulsa-based Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported about 24,000. Other utilities reported several thousand more still without power on Monday.
Overnight temperatures in the state in the past week dipped to minus 10 C.
The state medical examiner's office said the ice storm contributed to at least 27 deaths: 16 in traffic accidents, eight in fires, two from carbon monoxide fumes and one from hypothermia.
In Kansas, where six deaths were blamed on last week's storm, about 24,000 customers remained without power, and some of those in rural areas might not see electricity restored for a week or more.
The reason is another winter storm expected later this week, Larry Detwiler of the Kansas Electric Cooperatives said.
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