Power slowly restored in Carolinas after storm

FRANKLINTON, N.C. -- While most of the Carolinas had power restored Monday following several days coated in ice, people in tiny towns like this one were beginning to wonder if they'd been forgotten.

More than half of Franklinton's 1,800 residents shivered for a fifth straight day without power while utility companies prioritized lines that served the most people.

"We've had it bad," said Devero Martin, 74. "Look at all the clothes I have on. It's everything I have."

He and his 73-year-old wife, Mildred, shivered as they came outside to check on the borrowed generator running their furnace. Before that, they'd gotten by on a small heater plugged into a nearby building that had power after most of the area went dark after last Wednesday's ice storm.

"You should see the covers we've had to sleep under," Mildred Martin said. "Everything in the refrigerator and freezer is soft and soggy."

Two of the town's five stoplights worked.

Carolina Power & Light said some long lines coming into the town are down and are taking more time to repair.

"They're not forgotten," company spokeswoman Julie Hans said. She acknowledged, however, that in rural areas it takes the same effort to restore power to a few customers as it does to restore hundreds in a city like Raleigh.

In the storm's aftermath, the lights went out on more than 2 million people in the Carolinas. By late Monday, utilities said that number was down to nearly 600,000.

Duke Power, which supplies electricity for most of the state between Durham and the Tennessee border, said it will take until midnight Wednesday before it can restore power to most of its 380,000 North Carolina customers and 34,700 South Carolina customers still without electricity.

CP&L, which serves most of the state east of Durham, was trying to return power to about 88,000 customers. The state's electric cooperatives reported about 8,200 without power Monday.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Easley formally asked the Bush Administration to declare a disaster in the state, which would make North Carolina eligible for compensation from the federal government.

National Guard volunteers have been going door to door since Saturday in 21 counties, making sure residents are safe and that they know how to safely heat their homes without being poisoned by carbon monoxide from poorly ventilated heaters.

The invisible, odorless gas apparently was involved in three deaths during the weekend.

The total number of deaths blamed on the storm and its aftermath was 30, in states extending from Arkansas to New York.