LANCASTER AND MILAN, MO. -- Some are calling the situation in southern Missouri a "winter war zone" after a devastating ice storm took down trees, power lines and utility poles this week.
A four-man crew from Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Lancaster left early Friday morning to help restore power to the tens of thousands of people in southeast Missouri left without electricity.
The four local linemen took two trucks with them, and they're expected to be gone seven to 10 days.
"Devastation is the word that I think I would use to describe it. We've got one co-op, they're going to Pemiscot-Dunklin (Electric Cooperative), which is down in Hayti, which is about as far from here as you can get and still be in Missouri. It's actually down in the Bootheel. And they, at one point yesterday (Thurday), did not have a meter turning," said Dave Ramsey, General Manager of Tri-County Electric.
At its peak, 53,000 Missourians served by electric cooperatives were in the dark.
Ramsey told KTVO it could take 10 to 12 days get power restored to everyone across southern Missouri.
We're told power crews from North Central Missouri Electric Cooperative in Milan also headed south to lend a helping hand.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKTVO