Ice Storm Paralyzes Arkansas, Oklahoma
L I T T L E R O C K, Ark., Dec. 27 -- A deadly storm of ice and snow assaulted themid-southern United States today, paralyzing Arkansasand Oklahoma with widespread power outages and dangerous,ice-coated roadways.
“It’s really the equivalent of having a nuclear device gooff, without the mushroom cloud or radioactivity,” Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabeetold reporters by cellular telephone. “Virtuallyeverything is shut down. We have 11 or 12 counties where everysingle person has lost power, phone service and water.”
At least 562,000 people had no electricity as a coating ofice up to 2 inches thick toppled trees and snappedpower lines from New Mexico to Arkansas.
Police said 16 people had died in weather-related accidentssince the storm started in New Mexico on Christmas Day. As thesystem moved east, it dumped a record 20 inches of snow onnorthern Texas.
Arkansas, still recovering from a fierce ice storm twoweeks ago, appeared hardest hit, with highways closed aroundthe state and 300,000 people left without power. In westernArkansas, newspaper offices closed down for the first time intheir history and despite its pledge to defy sleet, snow anddark of night, the U.S. Postal Service suspended maildelivery.
Even the Governor Is Cut OffThe devastation in Arkansas was so widespread that Huckabee used his authority as governor to dispatch National Guard troops in all-terrainHumvees to search for people stuck in frozen buildings anddisabled vehicles. Huckabee shut down state governmentWednesday, extending a state holiday, and asked for federal help torestore electricity.
Even the lights and telephone were out at the triplewide mobilehome that serves as the state’s temporary Governor’s Mansion.
“The people of Arkansas are being typically resilient andneighborly during the most trying times we’ve ever faced,”Huckabee said. “Let us all pray for warmer weather and for thesafety of those who must travel and work in these very tryingconditions.”
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