FEMA Director Visits Kentucky Area Still Recovering From Ice Storm

When O’Neill Lawrence returned from a supply run to his western Kentucky farm in Leitchfield, Kentucky, on Wednesday, he met FEMA’s top official at his gate. One of thousands without electricity more than a week after a crippling ice storm, the farmer still managed a warm greeting for acting FEMA director Nancy Ward.

Ward toured hard-hit areas of Grayson County to inspect the devastation from last week’s storm, which left 27 people dead across Kentucky and hundreds of thousands without power shortly after the storm’s passage.

Lawrence, who raises hogs and horses on his tract, said he has essentially idled the farm while awaiting warmer weather.

“It’s so cold you can’t hardly get out and do much,” said Lawrence, who expects to be without power for up to six weeks.

Lawrence told Ward that he and his neighbors are “in pretty good shape” and helping each other with daily needs.

Ward flew into western Kentucky aboard a National Guard helicopter and planned meetings later Wednesday with state officials in Frankfort.

Ward, who previously served as a regional administrator for the West, oversaw the agency’s response to California’s wildfires. She took over Jan. 21 as acting administrator of FEMA while President Barack Obama settles on an appointment of a new, full-time director.

Some 101 counties and 75 cities have declared states of emergency, Beshear said. The governor also reported that more than 4,600 people remain in 155 heated shelters where they’ve been driven. Many left homes for lack of power to light and heat their frigid homes.

Twenty-two nursing homes are running on generators, and one hospital has closed though Its emergency room remained open, the governor said. He said patients from the hospital had been transferred to other hospitals.

Meanwhile, Beshear said, National Guard troops have continued door-to-door checks and are still active in 27 counties.

Ward praised Kentucky’s efforts and said Beshear had been “engaged” in the entire process, making repeated calls to federal officials every day. She also said federal officials were processing Beshear’s request for a major disaster declaration from Obama, but did not have anything to report immediately.

“From what I saw today, it was incredible, and we only saw a very small portion today,” Ward said. “If you extrapolate that over the entire geographic area that is impacted by Kentucky, it’s a devastating situation for the state.”

The visit comes as electric power slowly returns to parts of Kentucky, while residents in the eastern part of the state deal with cold, snowy weather that blew in overnight.

Public Service Commission spokesman Andrew Melnykovich said that as of Wednesday morning, 142,500 utility customers who fall under the commission’s jurisdiction were without power. That drops the total number of customers reported without power to 208,335, including 52,600 served by the Tennessee Valley Authority and 12,950 municipal utility customers. That’s down from a high of around 769,000.

The latest deaths reported occurred in Johnson County in eastern Kentucky, where a person dependent on oxygen lost power at home and another person had a heart attack while cutting tree limbs.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews spent Wednesday snowplowing routes from Louisville eastward through the Bluegrass area and the coal fields and clearing storm debris, said spokesman Chuck Wolfe.

Kentucky State Police spokesman Sgt. David Jude said the weather appeared to have caused no more than the “usual” traffic problems.

“I think a lot of people have stayed off the roadways,” Jude said.

Kentucky Emergency Management spokesman Dick Brown said about 4,600 people remained in 155 shelters Wednesday, mostly in western Kentucky.

Kentucky National Guard Lt. Col. Kirk Hilbrecht said 200 more generators were shipped into Fort Campbell, put on trucks and were delivered to shelters around western Kentucky.

___

Associated Press writers Brett Barrouquere in Louisville and Joe Biesk in Frankfort contributed to this report.

Topics Windstorm Kentucky