Southern Missouri recovers from ice storm

The storms caused some deaths and left thousands without power.

By Will Guldin

Published Feb. 5, 2009

An ice storm last week devastated areas throughout southern Missouri, and while the ice has melted, the damage remains and many are still without power.

The ice storm began Jan. 30 and only lasted two days, but in that time, large amounts of ice fell across southern Missouri.

Sikeston was one town that was hit especially hard by the ice storm.

Sikeston City Manager Doug Friend said a tremendous number of trees were down and that only about 60 percent of houses in the city had power.

Friend said that even once all of the power was restored, 800 homes and businesses would still be without electricity because wiring had been ripped out during the course of the storm.

No one was hurt during the storm in Sikeston, but there have been deaths in the aftermath of the storm.

"We did have an issue with alternative fuel sources," Friend said. "What I mean by that is that some people tried to heat their houses with gas heaters, so we had a couple of fatalities from carbon monoxide poisoning."

Some towns in southern Missouri were able to avoid the worst of the storm.

"We missed it, we feel very fortunate," Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson said. "As a result we've been a major staging area for all the utility workers that have come in."

The damage caused in the area by the storm prompted Gov. Jay Nixon to issue a request for a federal disaster declaration, which was granted Jan. 30. At the time of the declaration, 2,000 Sikeston residents were staying in 35 different relief shelters, according to a news release from Nixon's office.

Knudtson said Cape Girardeau was housing around 2,400 electrical workers in the A.C. Brase Arena. Knudtson said the utility workers are on three 800-person shifts and are working around the clock to restore power to the area south of Cape Girardeau.

Knudtson said that maintaining power allowed Cape Girardeau to help with the recovery efforts.

"We had power, and power is golden in a storm like this," Knudtson said.

Cape Girardeau also sent several fire trucks to surrounding towns in the area, which were needed in many communities to combat fires resulting from downed power lines.

MU junior and Sikeston resident Ellie Hensley said she was in Columbia during the storm, but she was worried about her family and had no idea about the extent of the damage in Sikeston at the time.

"A transformer blew up and set our yard on fire, and the fire department had to come while there were no lights on in Sikeston and during a huge ice storm," Hensley said.

Hensley is a former member of The Maneater staff.

During and after the storm, Hensley said her family had no power and used a fireplace to stay warm.

"When it got sort of warm outside, it only got up to 50 degrees in the house," Hensley said. "My dad just kept the fire going."

MU sophomore Aly Friend, daughter of Doug Friend, said she was able to receive regular updates from her family during and after the storm.

"I liked getting reports because I knew they were safe, but I was worried because they didn't have power or heat," she said. "You worry about all your relatives, even in a thunderstorm."

With the warm weather coming through this weekend, most of the ice in Sikeston has melted, but the effects of the storm can still be seen.

"We're beginning to get back to some sense of normalcy, but the cleanup is going to take quite some time," Doug Friend said.