Out-of-state workers help repair lines

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Electricity workers, aided by hundreds of out-of-state crews, repaired more damaged lines Saturday while tree trimmers removed troublesome limbs that were thawing in the daylight.

More than 100,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity Saturday afternoon after the ice storm that officials estimate has caused tens of millions of dollars damage in the Kansas City area alone.

Dark houses, trees broken under the weight of ice and at least two deaths have led Gov. Bob Holden to seek a presidential disaster declaration for the northern Missouri counties hit hardest by last week's storm. The governor said he would apply for federal aid on Monday.

Ice pelted parked cars and slammed onto sidewalks in Kansas City Saturday afternoon after melting off of tree limbs and the sides of buildings.

While temperatures climbed into the low 40s Saturday afternoon, forecasters predicted lows would fall below freezing through Wednesday with snow possible in western Missouri again on Monday night and Tuesday.

About 75,000 customers of Kansas City Power and Light were still without power as of about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, said spokesman Tom Robinson.

The company had about 160 of its own workers in the field repairing damaged lines and equipment, and about 600 linesmen from 12 other states have joined the effort, Robinson said.

The crews have restored power to about 74 percent of the roughly 350,000 who have lost electricity at some point during the storm which began Tuesday, he said.

"When we start getting into the lower numbers, the more difficult the restoration is because we're going yard to yard," Robinson said. "It seems like we may not be making much progress, but we're still working hard."

Colorado linesmen working in Kansas City this weekend said the three-day storm was the worst they'd ever seen. But workers from Indiana deferred to a 1991 storm in that state that knocked down 7,000 utility poles and left ice as thick as softballs on trees.

"An ice storm is a lineman's nightmare," Terry Hardiman, a 26-year Cinergy employee from Princeton, Ind., told The Kansas City Star.