VICKSBURG, Miss (AP) — Residents in a iced-over swath of Mississippi began to confront the ugly truth Monday as they shivered in ever-colder and darkened houses: Recovery from the state's worst ice storm in more than 30 years could take a week or more.
While the weekend's winter storm impacted tens of millions of Americans, the most lingering effects are concentrated in a band from far eastern Texas across north Louisiana, Mississippi and into Nashville, Tennessee.
Parents were worrying about the 20,000-plus college students at the University of Mississippi, which canceled classes and closed campus for the rest of the week. Officials were fretting not only about restoring electricity and opening warming stations, but keeping fuel flowing to backup generators that run water pumps and supply medical facilities and opening darkened gas stations and grocery stores.
“I mean, it looks like a war zone out here,” said Adrian Ronca-Hohn, who estimated that the storm toppled around 40 trees surrounding his property in Iuka, in the state's hilly northeast corner. He and relatives plan to chain saw their way out Tuesday.
Like others, Ronca-Hohn couldn't see the destruction when ice began toppling trees before dawn Sunday. But the 23-year-old football coach and storm chaser said he could hear it.
“We couldn’t go 10 seconds without hearing what sounded like a gunshot," he said of trees falling. “You’d hear a pop, a hard pop, and you’d hear the whistle of it falling, and then it would crash to the ground and just kind of explode. And every now and again, you’d hear one real close, like, right outside. It was a sleepless night.”
Marshall Ramsey, an editorial cartoonist who teaches journalism at Ole Miss, said trees breaking, electric transformers exploding and thunder made for a “demonic symphony" in Oxford.
Power outages dropped below 150,000 Monday afternoon, but Mississippi still had the largest share of outages of any state. At Alcorn County Electric Power Association in Corinth, all 19,000 customers were dark at midday Monday. Tennessee Valley Authority high voltage lines were down, and General Manager and CEO Sean McGrath said the cooperative couldn't fully evaluate damage until TVA restores power to substations.
TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said the power provider couldn't deliver electricity to 12 of its 153 local utilities. Brooks said some utility substations are so damaged that they can’t receive electricity. Some faced expensive choices in what is one of the nation's poorest states. In Vicksburg, Jamita Washington said she wrapped herself in blankets but could see her breath in the home she shares with her 20-year-old son and small dog. She has spent the past two days warming up in her car before returning to her freezing home.
When the power didn’t return Monday, she started seeking a hotel room. “I wanted to wait it out, but I think I have to,” Washington said. “I can’t take another chance on it. It was extremely cold last night.“
Jackson Mills, 25, said he was staying with his wife, son and in-laws at his grandfather’s house in Corinth where there's a gas fireplace. Mills said he trekked into nearby Tennessee Sunday to buy gas for a generator the family is using.
“We’d like for all this to mostly go away, just melt away, but it’s just so dadgum cold that it’s not melting,” Mills said.
Things were worse in neighboring Tippah County, where not only was power out, but most didn't have running water or natural gas service. State Rep. Jody Steverson of Ripley said low temperatures will make conditions "life-threatening," He communicated by text because cellphone service was faltering.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that he's deploying 500 National Guard soldiers by Wednesday to remove debris and control traffic. He said 61 shelters and warming centers were operating in 30 counties, and the state had doubled its request for generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 30 to 60 to provide power to shelters, nursing homes, hospitals and water systems. The state is also distributing cots, blankets, prepackaged meals and bottled water.
“We will get through this,” Reeves said. "We’re not going to get through it today and we’re not going to get through it tomorrow.”
Ramsey said his Oxford family has been running a generator to power a space heater and a light and charge phones. He said his house was about 50 degrees inside Monday morning, calling it “a little chilly, but doable.“
"Apparently, the new status symbol in this town is having electricity,” Ramsey said. “It’s a mess.”
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Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporters Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.