Tuesday’s storm left thousands of people without power after trees and power lines snapped under the weight of the ice. Some areas opened shelters to help those without power, including Indianola, where Brian Seymour is the fire chief. He says in the city they were fairing pretty well, but in the rural areas there were still some 2,000 people without power and they felt those people might need a place to go.
Seymour says the city joined with Warren County and the Indianola school system to open the shelter at the Indianola Middle School. Seymour says the storm kept his department busy answering calls Tuesday. Seymour says most of the calls were for smoke in homes from power lines ripping away from a home, or for power line investigations. He says they didn’t have many calls for weather-related accidents.
Seymour is warning those who don’t have power to be careful to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning or fires in trying to find a way to stay warm. Seymour says that’s always a concern with power out for an extended period of time as people turn to space heaters, candles and fire places they haven’t used in a long time as they look for a way to heat their home.
Seymour says there shouldn’t be any fire concerns from electric appliances once the power gets back on. Seymour says sometimes when power is restored, you may get a boost and it would be good to have TV’s microwaves and other appliances turned off to avoid problems from the power surge.
Seymour says one good thing to come out of the storm is many of the volunteers in the department were off work and were able to help out with the fire calls.
Osceola set up an emergency shelter in the convention center of the Lakeside Casino to give a place for people without power and heat to go.