Jonathon Gregg produced the video component of this story.
SANDY HOOK, Ky. – Power lines are down. The roads are nearly impassible. Ice-covered tree limbs have snapped. There is no power. There is no heat. This is the current reality for tens of thousands of residents in southeastern Kentucky.
What You Need To Know
- Nearly 90,000 remain without power
- "Prolonged restoration effort" predicted
- Mutual aid crews in place to assist
- Rural southeastern counties hit hardest
Most of the people in Elliott County and thousands of others in Rowan and Carter counties are without power after back-to-back winter storms dropped crippling accumulations of ice and snow-stressed trees, power lines, and poles in these mostly rural counties.
There is a noticeable lack of traffic at the intersection of routes 173 and 556 about 6 miles outside Sandy Hook (pop. 800), the seat of Elliott County. The faint hum of an ATV got louder as a man in search of gasoline arrived at the intersection.
“You might get into Sandy Hook,” he said. “But unless you have one of these, you’re not getting back out. The road (Route 556) is a solid sheet of ice.”
Kentucky Electric Cooperatives estimated 85,831 outages in southeastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, with mutual aid crews totaling 274 workers from in-state, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana assisting in what is being called a “prolonged restoration effort.” Many residents have been without power for more than a week while some lost power after the second winter storm hit this past weekend. Some residents, such as Lisa Farley, who lives in rural Rowan County about 10 miles outside Morehead, lost power after the first winter storm. Her power was restored just before the second winter storm but was knocked out again after the second storm. She is recovering from knee replacement surgery, but is working at the family business out of necessity.
“Nobody who lives on Route 504 that runs next to the store here has power,” Farley, who was working at Hogtown Gas & Food Mart on Route 32, said. “We have two employees that live in Elliott County and they can’t get to work. None of our employees can get to work.”
Power never went out at Hogtown, which Farley said has created an uptick in business. She said the members of the electric crews working in the area visit the store frequently.
“We have been really busy,” she said. “I hate it has to be because of these circumstances but nobody, even the electric guys, knows when power will be back on. I think a lot about how fortunate I am to have a home and somewhere to go with heat, but I think more about all those people who don’t.”