Storm victims receiving help from state, local entities

The tens of thousands without power in Southeast Missouri are getting help from several sources in the Cape Girardeau area and beyond.

Saint Francis Medical Center began delivering systems to deliver oxygen to patients requiring special treatment to Sikeston on Wednesday, according to a news release sent today by the hospital.

Southeast Missouri State University is hosting 25 law enforcement personnel and more than 80 utility workers in its residence halls, a university news release said. The law enforcement personnel are Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and Missouri Water Patrol officers who are patrolling areas south of Cape Girardeau where power is out.

About 150 soldiers from the Missouri National Guard are in Southeast Missouri assisting with cleanup and helping care for people affected by power outages, a news release from the Guard's state office said.

In Butler County, about 20 members of the 1175th Military Police Company have been sent out to help with transportation needs in getting people to the warming center at the Black River Coliseum.

Ten Soldiers from the 1137th Military Police Company in Kennett, Jackson and Doniphan and from the headquarters unit of the 205th Military Police Battalion in Poplar Bluff have been sent to assist local law enforcement in conducting door-to-door wellness visits in Ripley County.

Members of the 1138th Engineer Company in Fredericktown and Farmington are also on duty. Those soldiers will be assisting hard-hit Mississippi County by conducting health and wellness checks and clearing roads in Charleston. The county has a pending request for 10 more soldiers to assist in East Prairie.

More Soldiers have been sent to the city of Malden for health and wellness checks and to man entry checkpoints where needed, and to Kennett for health and wellness checks. Others are clearing roads in Portageville and

Sikeston. They have also helped bring cots and portable toilets to Stoddard County as requested.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder today will deliver three generators he purchased in Chesterfield, Mo., to the Southeast Missouri communities of Kennett, New Madrid and Sikeston.

Two of the generators are earmarked for health clinics in Kennett and New Madrid, Kinder said. The 7,000-watt generators will help put the SEMO Health Network clinics back in operation, Kinder said.

He will visit with Judi Haggard, head of the Kennett clinic, and then take a tour of storm damage with disaster officials, Kinder said while driving to his first delivery.

Kinder will then head to New Madrid, where SEMO Health Networks has a satellite clinic.

Damage from the ice storm is unbelievable, Kinder said. "Apparently they need 3,600 power poles in Dunklin and Pemiscot counties alone," he said.

But help is on the way, he added. "I have passed or been passed by dozens if not hundreds of heavy utility trucks. There are probably more than 100 trucks on the way."

After leaving New Madrid, Kinder said he will meet with Sikeston Mayor Mike Marshall and public safety director Drew Juden to discuss the recovery situation and leave the third generator.

Kinder said he hopes to be able to coordinate the deliver of several dozen more generators over the weekend with the help of Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter. He said Mayer "has a line on" 25 additional generators.

For more information check back at semissourian.com or read Saturday's Southeast Missourian.