By Peggy Walton staff writer
From the February 16, 1994 edition of The New Castle Record
When inches of slushy ice dumped on Craig starting Thursday afternoon led to county-wide power outages Saturday, the county faced a losing battle; how to establish emergency shelters when no generators or portable propane gas heaters were available.
By the time half of county residents lost power early Saturday morning, residents of neighboring counties had already snatched available generators and heaters, leaving Craig folks with no alternative to candlelight and woodstove heat. There was no place to start a shelter, since no building in the county had enough power to support evacuees.
“We had nowhere to take people,” County Administrator Richard Flora said.
The nearest emergency shelter was located at the Salem Civic Center.
Gerald Groseclose, general manager for Craig-Botetourt electric Co-operative, said there were still 400 people with out power as of Monday afternoon, when 90 percent of Craig consumers had their power back. He said it could take until today or Thursday to restore power to remaining county residents without electricity.
Appalachian Power Company’s New Castle and Stone Cold Gap substations lost power after weighted-down transmission lines collapsed under ice and falling trees and branches. Seventy-five to 80 percent of the county lost power from about 4 a.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday, said Groseclose. Contract crews and members of the Shenandoah Valley Electric Co-operative joined Craig-Botetourt workers in16-hour shifts starting early Saturday morning.
“We’ve got all the help we can handle,” Groseclose said. “We’re making it.”
No state of emergency was declared in Craig, as the ice storm caused little damage besides power outages.
“Once they get power, there’s no crisis anymore,” Flora said. “As far as I know the county had no damages to any of its property.”
Flora said the county will take precautions to make sure a shelter can be established ion similar crises in the future.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
