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Outages Create Refugees

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The Associated Press

Published: December 13, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY - After three nights in a freezing, powerless home, Jeanetta Plunkett couldn't take any more. She picked up her two young grandchildren and sought refuge at a shelter for people who lost electricity after a huge ice storm.

"We've been at home trying to endure, but it wasn't working," said Plunkett, 58, who feared she was getting a cold and noticed the children had runny noses.

Oklahoma was hit hardest by the storm that encrusted the nation's midsection in ice and was blamed for at least 32 deaths. On Wednesday, the state still had a half million homes and businesses without power, and utility officials warned it could take a week to 10 days to get electricity fully restored.
Dozens of shelters in churches and community centers offered food and a warm place to sleep, especially for the poor, the elderly and families with young children who had nowhere else to go.

After the lights went out Sunday, Plunkett and her grandchildren, ages 6 and 3, left the house to get fast-food fried chicken and to warm up. At night, they huddled in blankets, Plunkett in her reclining chair, and the children on the floor at her feet.

"The children were wrapped up like a taco," she said.

"The scariest part about it was hearing those trees pop and fall down," Plunkett said. "Every time I heard a tree pop, I'd look out the window."

They finally left their working-class neighborhood for a shelter Wednesday.

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