Armchair Genealogy

By Melinda Cohenour

An Historic Ice Storm cripples Oklahoma leaving a half million people (assume 2.5 average population per customer account with OGE announcement of 200,000 OKC homes without power) in Oklahoma City alone. My customary Armchair Genealogy column could not be sent as not only our electric service but our email service as well was out. Thus, my posts documenting our personal distress as well as that of our friends and neighbors in the area of this historic and tragic ice storm comprise this month's story.

First inklings: Winter ❄️❄️ Storm Warning Freezing 🥶 Rain 🌧️🌧️🌧️ until Noon today then rain (if temp gets above 32°) all day

Winter ❄️❄️❄️❄️ Storm Warning Continued. Large trees down in areas of town.

City of Bethany
Sheniqia Haynes • 10/29/2020
Tree Debris Removal Plan. In order to allow citizens sufficient time to gather storm limbs on their property, city crews will begin curb side tree limb debris removal on Monday, November 16th, at 6AM. This will be a free service.

Please have limbs cut to no longer than 10 feet in length and place them in a pile parallel and within 6 feet to the curb/ driving surface. Please keep limb piles away from water and gas meters, fences, vehicles and overhead obstructions.

KFOR TV: As of Friday morning, more than 200,000 customers statewide are still without power, including about 116,000 in Oklahoma City. OG&E officials said more customers will have power restored every day. Their current estimated time of restoration is as follows: Woodward - by Sunday night. Enid - by Sunday night.

All other areas - by the end of next week. Officials said they are unable provide estimates for specific addresses at this time. As they continue to restore power, they will provide more updates to restoration estimates.

EMAIL TODAY 10/31/2020 FROM OGE:
We know many of you are still dealing with power outages related to this statewide ice storm. Please know our crews are working day and night to get all customers back up as quickly and safely as possible. Since Monday, we have restored power for more than 230,000 customers. We have over 3,500 restoration personnel in the field (representing 18 states) working to restore power for our customers. This is the largest contingent of assistance in our history.

So far we've found 639 poles, 566 crossarms, 91 transformers and 178 transmission structures that have been damaged or destroyed.

We expect to restore power for customers in Woodward and Enid by Sunday. A majority of the Oklahoma City metro is expected by Tuesday. The remaining service area is expected to be restored between Wednesday, Nov. 4 and Friday, Nov. 6. We will restore power for thousands of customers every day and will update restoration estimates as they become available.

In the meantime, it is important to make sure your home is ready to receive power. If your weather head, service cable or meter socket is damaged you will need to contact a certified electrician to make necessary repairs before service can be restored to your home. Facebook Twitter Instagram © 2020 OGE Energy Corp.

This email was sent by OGE Energy Corp. PO Box 321 Oklahoma City, OK 73101-0321, US

Beautiful but deadly Ice. Photo by Melissa Bradshaw.

With some daughter help we will make it in spite of the damage to our fifteen trees (See pic below: Fallen Limbs photo by Melissa Bradshaw) and next month we expect to be able to resume our regular column "Armchair Genealogy."