 Power begins to come back in segments. A friend on Mayfield Road reports on Monday that Jackson Electric Co-Op, his provider has restored his power. We smother our envy and congratulate him.
KU rolls into town like Saturday night wrestlers, taking over the whole elementary school parking lot with tents and trucks. The glow of their generator supplied lights fill the darkened streets for blocks.
 
Water bottles, MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), snacks, personal items come by the truckload. The Methodist Church becomes a distribution center. Pull up next to the curb. Tell the volunteers what you need. Sign a log. Load the car. Drive off.
Who's next?
The shelter remains open until Sunday, the 8th. The weather has become springlike - temperatures in the mid to high 60's. Sheltered folks go home to clean out refrigerators and pick up limbs from their yards.
A second group of National Guard arrives - these from West Virginia - and they take over the Young Center as their command center and sleeping quarters.  Below left- the TOC or Tactical Operations Center is the room formerly known as the church office.  The big yellow shower truck allowed lots of private showers (out in the parking lot.) At right, one WV guardsman is left to watch their stuff in the Young Center.
Below, the National Guard brought diggers and dump trucks and big stuff to move the tons of debris left from the storm.
 
Below: A film crew from the Kentucky National Guard showed up to film the West Virginia National Guard deployment. One can never have too many pictures, we always say!
As of Tuesday, there are still people without power all over West Kentucky. All over the Purchase, rural residents don't know when to expect the electric to come back on.
Columbus' lights went off sometime in the night. They weren't back on first thing this morning. On Monday afternoon, A semi hit a low hanging line out on Highway 58 South, knocking out the transformer and starting a field fire. Our local grocer went "insane" when the lights went out because of the accident. The store was two hours without power. He recovered his senses when the lights came back on.
The electricity is on for now. None of us who went through the Ice Storm of 09 will ever take lights and showers and hot water and cooked food and heat for granted again.
We have things to learn for when the next "big one" hits. We have plans to make and stories to tell. We have reports and lists and arguments to be argued. All of us. Not just our leaders. Not just FEMA or the National Guard.
All of us. |
