- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 8,713
- Reaction score
- 1,907
- Location
- The Derby City
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Conservative
FEMA condemned for slow response to ice storm crisis (OneNewsNow.com)MARION, Ky. - A crippling winter storm has plunged about a million customers into the dark from the Midwest to the East Coast, and thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky have sought refuge in motels and shelters.
Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. Some in rural Kentucky ran short of food and bottled water, and resorted to dipping buckets in a creek.
Thousands fled frigid, powerless homes for hotels and even a heated auditorium at Murray State University that was converted into a shelter following Monday's storm that left some areas in up to 1 inch ice.
Utility workers hoped to speed up efforts Saturday to turn the lights back on. Still, rural communities feared it could be days or even weeks before workers got to areas littered with downed power lines….
Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In Kentucky's Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees. He said roads are littered with fallen trees and people shivering in bone-chilling cold are in need.
"We've got people out in some areas we haven't even visited yet," Smith said. "We don't even know that they're alive."
Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm.
"I'm not saying we can't handle it," Smith said. "We're handling it. But it sure would have made life a lot easier."
It's interesting that FEMA hasn't improved any, even with the ONE as President now. It was bad enough last September when Hurricane Ike caused hundreds of thousands to lose power here, but at least it was warm then. The poor folks without power now are using anything they can to stay warm. There was one family on tv over the weekend that was burning their wood fence to stay warm. The shelters, if you can get to them, are mostly full of people, so there's not much that people can do.
Come on Obama, get FEMA into high gear. Just because Kentucky voted for Bush is no reason to abandon the people here.