ASHLAND —
Thousands of area residents remained without electricity Saturday following the devastating storm that blew through the region the previous evening.
As of about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Kentucky Power was reporting 8,142 blackouts in Boyd County alone.
However, that number alone indicated the utility company was making progress in getting power restored. The number of outages was roughly half what it was on Friday night following the storm.
Kentucky Power was estimating power might not be fully restored until Friday. However, the utility said most customers could expect to see their power return well before that.
More than 37,000 customers in 12 counties served by Kentucky Power were without electricity Saturday evening. Greenup had 7,877 outages, Carter 3,007 and Lawrence 4,334,
Pike had the highest number of outages of the 12 counties with 8,608.
In a news release, Kentucky Power said more than a third of its customers were initially impacted by the storm, which uprooted trees and snapped utility poles. The company also said it was brining in line crews from other electric companies to assist in the restoration effort.
Boyd County Emergency Management Director Brent Webster said the power outages were the major problem the county was still facing from the store, particularly given the fact temperatures climbed to near the century mark for the second consecutive day on Saturday.
To help residents without electricity cope with the sweltering heat, the Ashland Boyd County Catlettsburg Officer of Emergency Management opened cooling stations throughout the county. There were a total of six places where people could go to cool down and where those on oxygen could go to use their home tanks, Webster said.
He said only one station will be open today, at Westwood Christian Baptist church, 743 Wheatley Road, unless emergency officials determine there’s a need for more.
Webster said the storm, which packed winds of up to 70 mph, caused “significant” property damage throughout the county, but, he said he doubted there was a sufficient amount to qualify the county for federal disaster aid.
There also were no injuries in Boyd County that were attributed to the storm, Webster said.
“We were very fortunate,” he said.
In Greenup County, shelters for residents needing relief from the heat were opened at the Wurtland Fire Department and Worthington Elementary School. Also, residents of Russell, Raceland, Flatwoods and Bellefonte, as were customers on the Greenup water system because of power outages.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
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