WORLD> Photo
More than a million wait in icy darkness across US
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-29 09:53

"We bundled up together on a bed with four blankets. It's freezing," said Pearl Schmidt of Paintsville, in eastern Kentucky. Her family endured 32-degree weather Wednesday morning before leaving their house for a shelter.


Ice-coated branches from a tree lie across a vehicle in the front yard of a house in Fayetteville, Ark., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009. An ice storm hit the northwest Arkansas region late Monday and Tuesday leaving wide-spread damage to trees and power outages. [Agencies]

Kyle Brashears' family rode out the storm in their Mountain Home in Arkansas before fleeing to relatives after half an ice-caked oak tree fell into their home.

"It caved the roof in and ripped the gutter off, although it didn't penetrate inside," he said. "I was walking around outside until about 1 am and it was just a nonstop medley of tree limbs cracking off."

The number of homes and businesses without power totaled around 1.4 million Wednesday evening, in a swath of states from Oklahoma to West Virginia. Arkansas had more than 350,000 customers in the dark; Kentucky had about a half-million. The actual number of people affected the power failures could be much higher.

In Kentucky, the power outages produced by the ice storm were outdone only by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, which lashed the state with fierce winds last year, leaving about 600,000 customers without power. Gov. Steve Beshear said he was seeking a federal emergency disaster declaration, a key step in securing federal assitance for storm victims.

"We've got lots of counties that do not have any communication, any heat, any power," he said.

Various charities opened shelters across the region, but with the power out nearly everywhere, including at some radio stations, it was difficult to spread the word. Some deputies went door to door and offered to drive the elderly to safety.