Thousands Have No Power

From the Rapid City Journal:

Thousands Still Without Power

Karla Knight of Dupree started making supper for her family Sunday at 4 p.m., while there was still enough winter light to see. It was day three of no electricity on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Knight was one of thousands left in the dark when ice and wind snapped power poles across much of the state. Another session of morning rain Sunday slowed progress on repairs as more power poles continued to snap.

“They’ve been working on the lines, but more poles fell down in Eagle Butte, from The Plains Store all the way out east to the old sale barn. They’re going down in town now,” she said Sunday afternoon.

Knight said the South Dakota National Guard had arrived in town, and officials had opened Pioneer Hall in Dupree to shelter people who didn’t have heat, water or a way to cook food. School officials and community members contributed food to feed the 40 people who stopped in the shelter for Sunday lunch. Twenty-five people opted to stay in the warm hall rather than return to the freezing cold of their homes, she said.

That story was repeated in many small communities throughout South Dakota and North Dakota over the weekend. A winter storm that first hit the region on Tuesday brought a mix of freezing rain and snow that snapped utility poles and toppled power lines and communications towers. The majority of outages struck as heavy winds swept through late Friday and early Saturday.

About a dozen shelters have been set up statewide, according to Kristi Turman, director of South Dakota’s Office of Emergency Management, but on Sunday, she didn’t know how many people had sought refuge.

Richard Smith, executive director of the Black Hills Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, said his agency had traveled to Eagle Butte Friday to deliver supplies.

Smith said the bulk of their work was done weeks ago when they placed emergency supplies, blankets and Meals Ready to Eat into communities including Lemmon, Faith and Wakpala.

The storm has downed in excess of 6,000 power poles in the state. Saturday night, an estimated 6,700 people were without power. Overnight, that number climbed to more than 10,000 people as weather brought down more power poles and complicated repairs. Winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour have whipped snow around to make for near zero visibility and closing some roads. Significant amounts of ice were clinging to lines in places, with ice six inches in diameter reported in the northwest corner of the state.

As of late afternoon Sunday, an estimated 7,400 rural South Dakotans remained without power at 10 cooperatives, according to a news release from the South Dakota Rural Electric Association.

Officials say it could be several days — possibly a week — before full service is restored.

Kathie Grant, Meade County Emergency Manager, said Faith once again was without power Sunday. Broken utility poles west of the small community knocked out power between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Sunday morning. The shelter at the Faith Fire Hall reopened, and they served lunch to about 40 people Sunday afternoon.

The town is out of water.

“They are desperately scrambling to get emergency water supplies to Faith, and they are begging people to not use water unless it is for drinking or cooking” until power is restored, Grant said.

The pumping stations have no electricity to move water. Karla Steele, special projects manager for South Dakota Rural Electric Association in Timber Lake, said they were working to bring back power but couldn’t say when it would be restored. As of Sunday, crews — including some members of the South Dakota National Guard — were still working at the pumping stations in Eagle Butte and Dupree to help with generators to power up the tri-county water system.

Greg Dean, director of industry relations for the South Dakota Telecommunications Association, said portable generators were also being used Sunday to keep telephone systems running, although there were some pockets without service.

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety dispatched two Incident Management Assistance Teams to help local entities coordinate incident management activities in response to the storm. One team of four has been sent to Eagle Butte to assist the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and another team of five is in Mobridge helping officials in Campbell, Walworth, Potter, McPherson, Edmunds and Falk counties. The teams will provide situation assessment, coordinating resource requests and help to plan ahead for additional resource needs during and after the outage.

And now, cold weather is on the way. National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Harmon forecast more heavy winds gusting up to 50 mph and overnight wind chills of 15 below to continue in some areas until Tuesday.

Gov. Mike Rounds asked South Dakotans on Sunday to check on their neighbors as forecasters predicted temperatures to be significantly colder, he said in a news release.

Rounds said people could help local law enforcement and first responders by checking on a neighbor who is elderly or a shut-in or someone who has medical issues.

Knight said she had checked on her 79-year-old father, Doug, at his ranch 23 miles south of Dupree near Cherry Creek just before the power went off. A cousin brought word on Saturday that he was fine, but there were 38 poles down between the ranch and Dupree.

People around Dupree had estimated that it was going to take anywhere from seven to 10 days before power and water returned to the reservation. “I think this year is going to be worse,” Knight said.

“Last year, we had a blackout for a week, but the poles didn’t go down,” she said.

Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. Dupree is located in  one of the poorest counties in the United States. these people cannot afford to lose anything- the food in the refrigerators or time off from their jobs. Time is virtually standing still for them now. As long as the wind is blowing- and today it’s blowing at around 40mph, the crews cannot replace downed poles. As for Zach and the family- they sent two of the brothers, Bud and Guth, to Rapid City yesterday to buy generators for all four houses on the ranch.  They also picked up supplies for their sister, and at least one other generator for our favorite Uncle Leo’s house.