EMA: Power being restored, but road conditions this evening will be treacherous

[December 19, 2008]  The rain came and quickly turned to ice. Within an hour of last night's freezing rain, power lines and grids started to go offline throughout the county.

Dan Fulscher, Emergency Management Agency director, said that area residents began losing power last night, starting roughly at 11 p.m. He said that grids in the city of Lincoln, rural Lincoln and the Burton View area as well as a grid in the Atlanta-Heyworth area went down, but they have had power restored.

Fulscher said there are also numerous reports of isolated power losses in homes where falling branches or trees have taken down power lines.

He said Ameren officials advised him that extra crews have been brought in to restore service and that Ameren officials are confident all grids will be back up before midnight. They also intend to restore power to as many individual homes and businesses as possible throughout the night.

Currently Ameren states that, as of 2 p.m., 400 users in Logan County still do not have electricity.

Fulscher wanted to warn individuals to not try to remedy their problems on their own. "I don't care if you think it's a power line, a cable line or a clothesline; I ask that homeowners do not try to remove fallen trees or branches off of lines ... wait for Ameren crews to come," he said.

Fulscher says he has been in contact with Tracy Jackson, the Lincoln street superintendent, and that crews are out cleaning up streets where branches, and in some cases trees, have fallen onto roadways.

Fulscher also expressed concern about this evening and the next several days. The weather pattern shows a cold front already entering the area that will cause thawed roads with standing water or ice to refreeze. This will make the roads just as dangerous as they were during the ice storm.

He urged motorists to be extremely cautious while driving, especially on country roads and at underpasses and bridges.

[LDN staff]