A devastating ice power has led to downed trees and power lines, leaving many people in the northcentral region of the U.S. without power. Outages continue to linger as of the morning of April 1.
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00:00Thank you so much sir for joining us give us the latest on the power outages across the region.
00:06Absolutely so our county has suffered an extreme devastation. We've seen approximately two and a
00:12half inches of ice build up on power lines and telephone poles that carry that critical
00:18infrastructure within our county. Currently we have over 17,000 without power. We're asking
00:23residents to shelter in place and only travel if there's essential emergencies to obtain fuel
00:29and get generators and food and things of that nature. Over 93 percent of the county is without
00:36power and crews are actively attempting to restore that. However during that restoration process the
00:42critical infrastructure is so fragile that simply just touching a line potentially brings 17 to 18
00:50power poles down with it. Wow yeah we're seeing some of the video there out of Gaylord and it's
00:55just you know when you say two and a half inches of ice just completely devastating. Have there
01:00been any major safety concerns or incidents as a result of the storm and how soon do officials
01:06expect power to be fully restored? Yeah several roadways do not have access in or out of them.
01:17We have a major significant public safety concern since we are asking people to stay in place due
01:22to the the dangerous conditions. I've directed the road commission as well as state and local
01:28resources to attempt to make lanes passable but we understand that the public is in a significant
01:36risk. Very early on we declared a county of emergency and we've also joined I believe
01:41approximately five other counties which led to a state of emergency declaration by our governor.
01:47And you're also in charge of the emergency management in that county. Have you seen any
01:52emergencies that you've had to contend with number one and number two? How are you advising
01:57residents to prepare for the next storm? Yeah we're asking residents to make sure that they
02:07practice generator safety ensuring that they're being safe against carbon monoxide, that they
02:13have enough food and water. Also we're directing them to shelters to charge devices like cell
02:18phones in case they do have to contact 9-1-1 in an emergency. We are also working with county
02:24transportation services to evacuate individuals to shelters that are unable to get there.
02:29Gavin Alberici from Ostego County where they're dealing with a historic ice storm from this past
02:35weekend and another storm on the way. Thanks for joining us and we wish you well getting back to
02:41normal as quick as possible.