President Barack Obama issued a federal emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky and Arkansas late Wednesday. By noon Thursday, 50 generators large enough to power hospitals or water treatment plants arrived at Fort Campbell for distribution.
Five communication vans for emergency operations were on their way to Western Kentucky, where there were widespread cell and land-line phone outages. Federal Emergency Management Agency staff were expected to arrive soon to help with damage assessments.
About 1,000 Kentucky National Guard troops were dispatched throughout the state to clear debris and help with emergency operations.
In many hard-hit areas, packed hotels turned away people willing to pay to get out of the cold; other citizens without heat flocked to more than 100 public shelters across the state.
More than anything, what utility crews, local officials and shivering citizens needed was a break from Mother Nature, which hammered the area for three days with rain, ice and snow — and is expected to keep the freeze on until the weekend.
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This weekend appears to be the first real possibility of warmer days, with a high of 37 forecast for Saturday, and possibly 51 on Sunday.
Help from Washington
Gov. SteveBeshear said Thursday during a tour of Western Kentucky that Obama called him about 9 p.m. Wednesday and they spoke for about 10 minutes.
"I talked with him about the various trouble spots we had, the lack of drinking water in some places, having to get heat to many of our shelters and nursing homes, and the widespread power outages," Beshear said. "He expressed his concern for the folks of Kentucky and wanted to let everyone know his thoughts and prayers were with us all."
Obama completed the disaster emergency paperwork in less than an hour, Beshear said. Obama signed the declaration after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. The disaster declaration will bring federal resources and staff to the state.
Federal officials are hauling truckloads of water, ready-to-eat meals and the large generators to a staging area at Fort Campbell in southwestern Kentucky, said Mary Hudak, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's southeast region.
The water trucks will help in some 55 water districts that don't have power. About 93,000 people statewide were without access to water by midday Thursday, said Monica French, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management.
Beshear said the federal government approved the state's request for FEMA to conduct damage assessments immediately, rather than the normal process of waiting for local officials to make the estimates first.
"It will move the federal reimbursement process along faster than it normally would," Beshear said.
Beshear traveled to Paducah and Henderson by Blackhawk hel icopter on Thursday. His mission was twofold: to get updates from local officials and to explain what the state is doing to help.
From the helicopter "you can't really see the real devastation on the ground: the downed power lines, people in shelters, people having to be moved from nursing homes to warm places," Beshear said.
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/675914.html
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