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The area has been subject to a repeated dousing of ice, which has
been mixed with every combination of moisture that could make
matters worse: sleet, snow and rain. It has coated and recoated
sidewalks, streets and trees, slowing some things and breaking other
things. There was bitter cold and ice, more breaking things. Then
came wind and ice, more breaking, more freezing rain on ice, melting
and refreezing, making slicker ice and... more ice.
Finally, as the month was coming to a close, there were enough
hours of warmer temperatures to thaw some of the traveling surfaces.
However, there was no time to appreciate that bit of relief, as it
was accompanied on Saturday by high winds and heavy rain -- rain
that fell over still-frozen surfaces.
Kickapoo Creek north of Lincoln on Nicholson Road is
well out of its banks Monday afternoon.
Though less visible now, ice is still a big player. Streams and
creeks are now out of their banks and flooding is under way. Drivers
should be cautious, especially in the country.
There have been broken branches, fallen trees, falling people,
car crashes, damaged buildings, broken utility poles, downed lines.
The damage has led to multiple power outages, repeat cell phone
outages and malfunctioning, and loss of Internet connections.
Saturday's wind and rains gave some already weary Logan County
residents, emergency response teams and repairmen more work.
AmerenCILCO crews were out in force to address many power outages
that occurred throughout the area, once again. Lines were downed by
branches, building debris and by the sheer force of the wind that
snapped poles.
First things were first: There were live wires on major roadways
to address. Wires were reported down crossing Route 10 both to the
east and to the west of Lincoln, near Middletown, and in Lincoln
around homes and businesses.
In Logan County some repairs were completed by evening, some by
midnight and others, including the New Holland and Atlanta areas,
took 24 hours or a little more, as numerous broken or leaning poles
needed to be replaced before power could be restored.
AmerenCILCO now reports that power has been restored to all of
Logan County.
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AT&T cell phone users have experienced variable usage in service at
different times. In this round, as of Monday morning most callers
could not get a connection to other AT&T users. A busy signal or
wrong number recording would occur. Calls could be made to, or
received from, landlines and other cellular services.
At CCA the main broadcasting tower for wireless Internet was
broken by the high winds that passed through on Saturday. Minutes
after the tower was felled, technicians began equipment recovery
work and began strategizing the quickest manner to bring back
service to their customer base in Lincoln and other parts of Logan
County.
Representatives there said that they expect to have some wireless
customers back up today, more tomorrow, and that most, if not all,
could be back online within two to three days.
No one was available to speak with Monday morning at the Logan
County Emergency Management Agency. Nor was there anyone available
at the Lincoln sewer plant to speak with in regard to flooding or
other damage that may have occurred this weekend.
Nearly every day of the last month, everything outdoors has been
subject to either slipping, sliding, breaking, flooding or being
blown away. Add in bouts of dense fog that came with the brief
warming period the end of last week, and that about covers all the
weather phenomena possible in the winter months here.
It's only a couple of days until January and a new year.
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST] |
