Residents cope with blackouts

Criticism leveled at Westar Energy for lack of information about repairs

Many were cold and many were angry, but Lawrence also saw displays of open-hearted kindness as people coped with ravages of an ice storm that left the county an official disaster area.

Electricity-deprived Douglas County residents turned on stoves, shared body heat with pets and wrapped themselves in piles of blankets as they struggled to stay warm Thursday. Power was out to 3,700 Lawrence households and businesses in the aftermath of an icy winter storm.

John King, 69, who lives in the 1100 block of Oregon Street, warms his hands on his kitchen stove. King was trying to stay warm Thursday afternoon; the power at his house had been out since 10 p.m. Wednesday, after ice-covered limbs knocked down power lines in his neighborhood.

Many without electricity were angry they couldn’t get information from Westar Energy, formerly KPL, about when the blackout might end.

“I’ve been calling all three of the 800 numbers every hour, and I’ve had no response,” said Cynthia Davis, who lives in the 1100 block of Delaware Street. “I bet they wouldn’t want their bills paid in this manner.”

Westar spokeswoman Cynthia McCarvel said the company has never had a hot line for crisis updates, though it does have a number for reporting outages.

“The best thing we can do is give updates through media outlets,” she said.

The little news McCarvel had to share wasn’t that good: She said power could be out in some parts of town through the weekend, though hundreds of repairmen were at work statewide.

State utility regulators found no fault with Westar.

“In any type of storm, everybody wants to know when they’ll get their power back, but it’s virtually impossible to get those kinds of answers,” said Rosemary Foreman of the Kansas Corporation Commission.

That was little comfort to people battling the cold in their own homes. The temperature dipped to 50 degrees at Davis’ place.

“I have two birds that are going to die,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ll do I guess I’ll crawl into bed with them.”

Carol Leffler boiled water to heat the 65-degree rooms at her home in the 1300 block of East 21st Street.

“The house is really starting to cool down now,” she said Thursday morning. “My 90-year-old mother is living with me and she’s very frail. I can’t take her anywhere else on the ice.”

Ray Wallace, 79, was worried about the elderly in the 1500 block of West 21st Terrace. Temperatures dipped to 50 degrees in his home, too.

“We’ve got a lot of older people out here, and we don’t have any lights or heat. I’m worried about us,” Wallace said.

City shelters

The city opened its Community Building to power-outage refugees, but by mid-evening only five people were using it.

“I can’t get out and drive in this stuff,” Wallace said. “I guess I’ll hang out here.”

Byron Berger, though, was grateful for the alternative shelter.

“I just went home and the electricity is still out. We’re stuck here,” Berger said. “We’re a lot warmer here than we were in the house.”

There were other concerns. Bob Augelli, who lives near the intersection of Wellington and Harvard roads, bought an old-fashioned phone with a cord so he could make calls without depending on electricity. His cell phone battery wouldn’t last too long without recharging, he said.

“We’re so electricity-dependent,” Augelli said. “What about opening cans of food for the cats? I only have electric can openers.”

Most people opted for other arrangements.

“My wife’s staying with my daughter until the juice gets flowing again,” said John King, who lives with his wife, LaJean, in the 1100 block of Oregon Street. “I was born and raised in the country, so I’m used to this. I’ll keep an eye on the home front.”

The Community Drop-In Center, which usually plays host to the poor and homeless, saw more guests Thursday morning, including some folks who lost power to their homes.

“It’s not going well,” said Tami Clark, the center’s director. “When you pack 50 people into a small space like this, with no room and no personal space, chaos reigns. It’s been one thing after another.”

Back at City Hall, City Manager Mike Wildgen said his staff wasn’t having any better luck getting a timeline for restoring electrical power. Many residents called the city when they failed to get through to Westar.

“We’re taking names and trying to find a public contact for them,” Wildgen said. “As far as I know, KPL has been attentive to our city power problems. I see a number of their crews out, and they are pulling crews from out of state.”

Good Samaritans

Fallen tree branches littering several lawns in a southeast Lawrence cul-de-sac were removed with the help of two Good Samaritans, said Craig Shultz, who lives at 609 Utah Court.

He said the men, who had been walking through the Utah Court area to share the Gospel with residents, volunteered to help cut branches and load debris onto trucks.

“It was amazing they stopped to do that,” Shultz said. “You don’t see that often anymore.”

Both missionaries stayed for more than two hours, despite being overdressed for icy conditions. They wore black dress shoes and a dark suits with a tie. Before leaving, they also helped shovel an elderly woman’s driveway.