Much of N. Carolina Remains Powerless

Their cherished trees had fallen to pieces, but residents were trying not to do the same Sunday as storm-related power outages stretched into a fourth day across much of North Carolina.

As crews labored around the clock to remove fallen limbs and fix power lines toppled during last week’s ice storms, residents relied on their neighbors and their own wiles to cope with blackouts that may last a few days more. Those who could afford it went to hotels, while others bunked down at the homes of fortunate friends or huddled under an extra blanket or two against the chilly temperatures.

At the home of Mildred Jeffries in the Wesley Heights neighborhood, a fireplace in a tiny back room now was heater and cooking stove in one. On Saturday, as the temperature outside approached 20 degrees, 10 friends and relatives spent the night packed snugly onto blankets in front of the fireplace. Making use of a barbecue grill’s metal grate and a trusted iron skillet, Jeffries, a 50-year-old home care worker, kept three generations of loved ones fed with steaks, rice and eggs cooked over the open flames.

“We’re making it,” Jeffries said as a cheery fire glowed Sunday afternoon. “I’m the oldest of 12, so I’m a survivor.”

The hardest hit areas in Charlotte were the older sections near downtown -- where many of the city’s venerable, century-old oaks broke under the weight of the ice, raining thick limbs onto rooftops, cars and power lines. By Sunday, neighborhoods such as Dilford were still without power as tree workers lopped damaged limbs from towering water oaks. The streets were lined with piles of bare branches and overhead, many broken limbs still dangled precariously.

Charlotte calls itself “the city of trees” and even has an ordinance to keep builders from clear-cutting to make way for new developments. The cooling canopies are a stately feature of Dilford and a handful of other neighborhoods. During the ice storm, those limbs abruptly became menaces, slashing through utility lines like a guillotine’s blade. The storm has resurrected debate about the virtues of burying utility cables.

An army of utility workers, including more than 4,000 from 15 other states, gained ground Sunday in the battle to clear debris and repair lines toppled by the storm, which hit with a malevolence not seen here since Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989.

Officials at Duke Power, serving portions of both Carolinas, said crews had restored electricity in 100,000 homes and businesses Sunday, leaving fewer than 500,000 without power. That was down from a peak of 1.3 million customers who lacked power after the storm. Duke, which said the blackout was worse than that resulting from Hugo, expected to have service restored almost everywhere by Wednesday.

In the Raleigh-Durham area, the utility CP&L; reported that 116,000 customers remained without services -- down from a high of 464,000. “It’s been difficult because of the cold, but we’ve made tremendous progress,” company spokeswoman Jean McCormack said.

The storm’s death toll rose as authorities in Charlotte reported that a 38-year-old woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning Sunday after she burned charcoal in the fireplace of her apartment. The woman, who was described as an immigrant from Sierra Leone in Western Africa, was at least the third person statewide to have succumbed to carbon monoxide. More than 200 other people across the state were treated for inhaling carbon monoxide as a result of using charcoal or gas grills or kerosene burners indoors.

Officials tried to spread the word among immigrants about the perils of carbon monoxide. At the police dispatch center in Charlotte, authorities used a computerized system to call thousands of homes in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods with a Spanish-language message.

In Lincoln County, a utility worker from Florida was killed when his service truck overturned. Five others died since the storm from other causes.

A state of emergency was still in place in both Carolinas. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley mobilized 300 National Guard troops to knock on doors in search of people needing help. Schools in the Charlotte area were to remain closed and 400 people sought warmth in four Red Cross shelters set up in area schools.

At one shelter, about 124 elderly and disabled residents slept on cots and hospital beds. Johnny Johnson, 40 and with severely limited vision, said he fled his apartment when the blackout hit and had not been back. “It was definitely cold,” he said.

City workers today were to begin cleaning up an estimated 750,000 cubic tons of fallen branches and snapped trunks -- the equivalent of 30 acres piled 15 feet deep. Residents like Jeffries were making the most of what nature provided. Her son sawed up a massive limb that narrowly missed the house. The chunks would keep the blaze going in her fireplace-cum-kitchen.

“God blessed me twice. [The limb] didn’t hit the house and he blessed me with wood,” Jeffries said.

Down the street, Samuel Ford sounded flustered. The blackout already had cost him two days’ work as a shelving installer -- one of them was payday -- and he had to spend $35 on batteries and candles.

The prospect of even one more day in his frigid house was “depressing,” Ford said. But there was little to be done about it. “I guess I’ll try to stay sane and do the best I can.”