Many in Iowa Remain Without Power

Because of the huge winter storms which struck Iowa this weekend, many areas were without electricity. In Grinnell, Iowa, many are still without power and have been since Saturday. This area of the country was hit hard with over a foot of snow and a couple inches of ice underneath it. The weight of the ice caused power outages throughout the state, but the Alliant Energy officials are struggling to get the power back to normal.

In Grinnell, the problem has been especially lingering. Because of the length of time of the power outages, some families have been forced to stay with friends, relatives, or at their churches. Some families even had to spend the night on cots in the local recreation center.

In other parts of the state, the same circumstances are still going on. In Montezuma, Iowa, the damage from the storm can be seen obviously throughout the town. Pieces of twisted and mangled metal and wood can be seen littering the town. These pieces of metal used to be electricity transmission towers and power lines, but due to the storm were reduced to little more than splinters of wood and metal. It is easy to see why the town is having difficulty in restoring power.

In Marshall town, conditions are no better. As one woman, Deloris Thompson, headed to the local Salvation Army to get some relief from the cold temperatures of her house, she ran into the Governor, Chet Culver. He asked her how she has been dealing with the power outages and the storm.

The governor was on a buck-up-the-folks tour with the head of the Iowa National Guard. The two men said that Iowa was, in general, very prepared for the emergency that it is experiencing, but that this ice storm was near the top of the list in the worst Iowa has ever experienced.