Tomblin: Recovery, relief are on the way to W.Va.

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July 6, 2012

Tomblin: Recovery, relief are on the way to W.Va.

By TAMMIE TOLER Princeton Times The Zope Gazette Fri Jul 06, 2012, 05:02 AM EDT

PRINCETON — Instead of spending their July 4th holiday at a family cookout, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, and first lady Joanne traveled the state to assess recovery efforts and attend feedback sessions with local officials regarding last week’s storms.

The Tomblins were accompanied by Major Gen. Jim Hoyer of the West Virginia National guard and other officials. The Tomblins met with representatives from the Office of Emergency Management, Princeton Community Hospital and Del. Marty Gearhart, R-Mercer, at the courthouse, in order to gauge the progress of responding agencies and update the status of the efforts state-wide.

Tim Farley, director of Mercer County’s Office of Emergency management, briefed the attendees on the progress being made on power restoration.

“On the day of the storm, we had roughly 12,000 county residents without power. We were able to restore 6,000 by Sunday, but a subsequent storm on Sunday left 18,000 without electricity,” he said.

By Wednesday the number was in the 6,000 range.

Farley said the biggest obstacles was reaching the areas of power lines that were damaged in some of the more rural areas. He went on to detail the priority areas, such as health care facilities, grocery stores and gas stations.

Farley encouraged those in affected areas to turn on their porch lights as a signal to let AEP workers know which houses had power and which ones did not.

According to Tomblin, the storm left more than 688,000 West Virginians without power and as of Wednesday, the efforts of AEP responders had cut that number in half. “Through the implementation of emergency powers, we were able to speed the delivery of much needed items such as fuel, water, and ice,” he said.

In the early stages of the crisis, ice was being brought from out of state, which, according to Tomblin, was quite an expense. Fortunately all of the State’s ice producers were back online and in full production in short order, easing some of the burden on residents. Tomblin highlighted efforts to dispose of spoiled food and bring generators to critical care facilities with the help of FEMA and the use of college dormitories for housing for the excess numbers of workers restoring power.

The Governor went on to ask Farley if there were any other needs for Mercer County. Farley stated there was a need for a tractor trailer of water for relief workers, and he was quick to praise the efforts of those working “around the clock” to bring relief to Mercer County residents.

“We have 40 truck-loads a day coming in, and it is on its way,” Tomblin said, regarding the water.

The topic of generators was broached, and the Governor emphasized the importance of citizens to educate themselves as to the type of generator needed and what type of connection would be appropriate for their home. As of this writing, home improvement outlets are offering services that provide for emergency generator installation and hook-up for consumers interested in purchasing a generator.

The meeting ended on a lighter note, with Tomblin describing “West Virginians, being West Virginians, by helping each other out.”

He related a story from Barbour County where one side of a street had no power and the other was unaffected.

“It seems, the folks with power had run extension cords across the street to help out their neighbors in need on the other side all the way down the block,” Tomblin said much to the delight of the assembled group.

Before he departed, Tomblin praised the people of West Virginia for their patience, charity, and exhibiting the resiliency that is common to the fabric of citizens of the Mountain State.

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Tomblin: Recovery, relief are on the way to W.Va.

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