Authorities stress safety in surviving outage

Safety is the top priority.

"We really, truly want to stress individual safety inside the home," said Mark Hasheider, the city of Cape Girardeau's emergency operations coordinator and assistant fire chief. He said the risk of using heating devices the wrong way is death.

As temperatures started to drop Tuesday afternoon, he and other public safety officials met in a quick conference call.

Temperatures were dropping and weather forecasts indicated rising winds sure to knock down more trees, branches and electric wires.

The Arena Building, one of two overnight Red Cross shelters, lost power at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We are working with Ameren to specifically look at that," he said.

The city and Red Cross agreed to open the Osage Community Centre as an alternate shelter, though at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, he was confident the Arena Park main building would be restored. Red Cross officials felt differently.

"Osage Community Centre and Immaculate Conception in Jackson are the place for food and cots that will be the official Red Cross shelter," said Kessie Hinkle of the Southeast Missouri Red Cross Chapter. "We'll stay open until people can go home."

The shelters were to be open all night.

While public safety officials strongly advised people to avoid driving, they also said those who expected to have no heat overnight should get behind the wheel and head to a Red Cross shelter or to a friend or relative's home.

Getting to the shelters on icy roads in the dark may be the biggest challenge. Hasheider said the Cape County Transit Authority was available to transport even those who could not pay.

"If someone can afford to pay CTA, we'd strongly recommend it; however, we don't want people to say they can't afford it and not go," he said.

He said the Red Cross was coordinating arrangements with the authority.

The transit authority was so overwhelmed with calls that executive director Tom Mogelnicki was driving some customers using his own sport utility vehicle. People who wanted to volunteer their vehicles and shuttle people had no process by which to help.

In extraordinary circumstances, such as a medical emergency, Hasheider advised calling 911. He expected heavy emergency vehicles to struggle over icy roads.

He suggested taking special care in helping the elderly trek to cars.

"Just walking on normal surfaces can sometimes be a challenge, but the ice and snow can really be one," he said.

Saundra Owens of Chaffee, Mo., drove to the First Baptist Church in Delta after her electricity went out at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Owens couldn't get to her mother-in-law, 84, who lives on a difficult rural Scott County road.

Her mother-in-law's house "is all electric, so she has no heat. My husband's a truck driver and won't be home until night, but there's no way he'll get back in there [with his truck]. She was without phone service until this afternoon, so she's been calling me," Owens said. "She's just wrapping up in blankets and spent most of the day in bed. ... We've been trying to get her to move to town, but she just won't do it."

No room at the inns

Meanwhile, people already on the road were renting hotel rooms from Perryville to Sikeston.

Assistant general manager Dennis Ponsness laughed when asked whether the Super 8 Motel at 2011 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau was booked up. He said the motel had been filled by 9 a.m. Tuesday. "We must have turned away 1,000 people," he said. "Every 15 seconds I get a call."

Maj. Ben Stillwell of the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau said the organization's canteen would be providing food for a number of overnight shelters opening at schools in Scott County. Scott County emergency operations director Joel Evans said Scott County Central High School north of Sikeston, Mo., and St. Denis School in Benton, Mo., have been closed as warming centers because they have lost power.

Stillwell estimated 150 meals would be delivered to the Scott County Sheriff's Department in Benton by 6 p.m.

Evans said those going to the shelters would have to be responsible for transportation themselves.

The sheriff's department itself is without power and is operating on a generator. Evans said the generator, too, was lost for a while but was restarted in the midafternoon.

Stillwell said the Salvation Army building at 701 Good Hope St. was to be open Tuesday night to handle any overflow from the other area shelters. By 4 p.m. Tuesday, 19 people had used the Salvation Army warming center.

Worried animal lovers

The Safe Harbor no-kill animal shelter was without power from the time the storm struck until about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. Director Alice Wybert said most of the 90 cats huddled together in the main building, but a few went outside to look at the birds scratching for food.

Dog trainer Marilyn Olson Neville has lost power at her house in Zalma, Mo. She and husband Mickey have an emergency generator that will only handle one power need at a time. They have moved their five dogs into their bedroom. "Their body heat is helping keep the bedroom warm," she said. "We also have three birds, and they have to have temperatures above 55 degrees."

Neville said pet owners should take special care of elderly animals in this situation. "It's dangerous for elderly animals on ice when you exercise them. It's easy for them to pull muscles."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137