Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
They have no electricity. No running water. They can look out the window of their brick ranch-style house along U.S. 460 in Elliston and see the lights glowing at Hall's Construction Co. across the street. They can look down the road to their right and see lights at the house on top of the hill.
But as they have for six days, the Barnetts - Calvin, 79, and Elizabeth, 76 - use an oil lamp to get around in their dark house and feed logs into the downstairs wood stove to keep the temperature above freezing. Their son brings in a portable generator every other day so they can wash up.
"We can even fix breakfast on the wood stove, if we're patient about it," Elizabeth Barnett said.
For 4,700 other New River Valley residents, the situation is the same. Downed power lines are still being reported in Ellett Valley, Ironto, parts of Blacksburg, Shawsville, Pilot, Pulaski and Floyd counties and other isolated areas.
Fewer than 100 customers remained without power in Apco's Roanoke division on Wednesday night. As soon as all Roanoke division customers have service, crews that have been working there will move to the New River Valley and Lynchburg to help, according to Victoria Ratcliff, administrative assistant for the division.
Those still without power in the Roanoke area should call Apco at 985-2727, Ratcliff said.
People's nerves are becoming as frayed as some of the downed lines.
"My daughter called [Apco] last night, and they said they would get power to us as soon as they could," Elizabeth Barnett said. "That's about all we know."
Steve Critchfield, owner of Rocky Acres, a secluded rental home community in Blacksburg, said, "What really burns me up is that there is no communication."
Critchfield said he waited in a line for an 1 1/2 hours at one Apco office, only to receive a vague answer to his most important question: When will the power be restored?
"We're restoring power, even as we speak," said Glenda Wohlford, administrative assistant for Apco's Pulaski division, which serves the New River Valley and four other counties. "But it could be as late as Friday afternoon or Saturday" before all customers have power, she said.
Hundreds of customers have inundated Apco's phone lines since Friday afternoon with the same question that Critchfield had.
"When you have a problem of this magnitude, you could have 1,000 phone lines, and it wouldn't make a difference," Wohlford said. Each time a customer calls, their account is called up on computer. A lot of the calls received were from the same customers, who often called 10 to 15 times, causing the phone lines to be jammed even more.
"People are just anxious to know when they will have their power back," she said.
Wohlford said there are more than 1,000 workers cutting trees and repairing lines to restore electricity to Apco customers. That's six times the normal operating staff, all of whom are working from 12 to 16 hours a day.
Another popular question: Why is it taking so long?
The downed lines receiving top priority are those that serve the greatest number of people, Wohlford said. For example, a line that serves 30 customers will be repaired before one that serves only 10. And if you happen to be so unfortunate as to have a line down at your home, chances are it will be as late as the weekend before power is restored.
"Everybody is concerned and everybody wants their [power] fixed now," said Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, from his office in Richmond. "I'm assured that Apco is moving forward as quickly as they can."
The House Corporations, Insurance and Banking Committee, of which Shuler is a member, will hold a hearing today at 10 a.m. in the General Assembly building to inquire about the delays in restoring power. Apco representatives will be at the meeting.
Shuler said some callers complained about seeing utility trucks outside of restaurants, instead of being parked by utility poles.
"Well, face it, everybody has to eat," Wohlford said. Earlier this week, Wohlford said utility workers were stopping in to eat their lunch, but because the restaurants were so crowded, they were being held up for hours. To alleviate that problem, Apco has set up catered food at the Pulaski division, where work crews can rush in, grab a bite to eat, and head back out to the job.
Others wanted to know: Could any of this damage have been avoided? No one from Apco's lines and maintenance department was available to answer that question.
Giles County seems to have fared the best, and Wohlford said practically all customers in that area should have power by now. Workers are still at it in Floyd, Montgomery and Pulaski counties. Virginia Tech Electric, which serves a portion of Blacksburg, reports that all of its customers are back on line.
"Our power went off about noon last Thursday, and I have two teen-age daughters," said Virginia Cromer of the Indian Valley section of Floyd County. Cromer said they have been heating the house, boiling water and cooking food with a fireplace insert, using a propane lantern for light and using a generator twice a day to keep the freezers going. It's the longest the Cromers have ever been without power.
"We live on a hill and look out at night to see lights all around. It seems really unfair that people can have dusk-to-dawn lights, and we can't even have a lamp or a hair dryer," Cromer said.
As for the Barnetts, life is business-as-usual.
Calvin Barnett does his best to run his Elliston Garage, lighting the big cinder-block building with a 12-volt bulb attached to a car battery and heating the place with a wood stove.
Elizabeth Barnett stays busy maintaining the fire in the house or listening to the news on a battery-operated radio.
"Naturally, we'll be glad when the power's back," Elizabeth Barnett said. "Of course, I understand, [Apco] is doing all it can. I just stay in the basement, where the stove is, because the bedroom is cold as an ice pit."
New River Valley Bureau Editor Elizabeth Obenshain and staff writer Todd Jackson contributed information for this story.
by CNB