PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Power outages continue in Pulaski County after the weekend’s winter storm dumped more than a half an inch of ice on trees and power lines around the county. Crews are working hard to bring the number of outages back to zero.
“We took anywhere between 0.25 to 0.5 inches of ice Saturday night going into Sunday morning,” said Chris Mason, director of Pulaski County Office of Emergency Management. “Almost immediately we started hearing reports of of trees going down and lines going down.”
“When the ice -- gets on there, it's kind of twofold,” shared South Kentucky RECC communications administrator Morghan Blevins. “It can break the poles, the lines, or the trees fall into the lines.
At the start of the storm, more than 28,000 people - 40% of Pulaski County, lost power. This afternoon, that number was just above 3,000 and it continues to drop.
“It's only in the last probably the last 24 hours we've seen really significant drops, and getting folks back to their houses,” Mason said.
“The larger ones are back on,” Blevins added, talking about outage locations. “Now you start getting into the ones that are, 50 people or less or 20 people or even those single ones and so it takes longer to get to those because a lot of times those are further out.”
While crews work to restore power, the American Red Cross is helping provide warmth at the Center for Rural Development.
“We've got the people that have tried to stay in their homes as long as possible,” shelter supervisor John Sternberg said. “Without power and the temperatures going down to the single digits, they needed to get in here and get warm.”
While the shelters are available, there are still a few thousand without power around Pulaski County that are still staying at their homes. Mason says this is made possible by the preparation done before the storm.
“I'm very, very proud of Pulaski County and our residents because they took our words to heart and they got ready,” he said.
With these cold temperatures, this ice isn't going anywhere. County leaders ask for patience as it may take longer to reach rural areas to restore power.
