Last week's ice storm left considerable destruction in several states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois. Some communities may not have electricity or municipally supplied water for weeks. Stay tuned to this site for information concerning how you can help residents rebuild infrastructure and get their lives back on track.
If you're planning a trip to the area or just want to know how family and friends who live in these states are faring, see www.wpsdtv.com for information on utility outages in Kentucky. The list includes county-by-county information concerning electrical outages, what businesses are open, road conditions, locations of warming centers, and water boil orders. The site also includes information on Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee counties affected by the storm.
(Photo: Wendy Davis, Cunnigham, KY)
Wendy Davis, my wife's cousin, lives in Cunningham, KY, a small town about 30 minutes west of Paducah. She sent the following photos, as well as the one above. She notes, "Most of the roads have at least one lane completely blocked. It's dangerous because people have to go one lane at a time. There are some roads that have been completely covered." Wendy also says that many people are still having difficulty even getting out of their driveways, as limbs and, oftentimes, whole trees block the way.
"I had never seen this before," says Wendy. "It was almost like every single blade of grass was in ice. After it warmed up a bit we could pull the ice off the grass in a single piece."
"Notice the power line is snapped in half [on the far left-hand side of the photo]. You can see the jagged wood still in the ground and the top is on the ground beside it. I can't tell you how many poles look this same way. It's so weird, they are literally snapped in half."
This photo "shows how the trees are just snapped at the tops. It looks like a helicopter just came down and chopped off the top of all the trees."
