Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2009 – Though some of them contain peanut butter, the 660,000 packaged military meals the Defense Logistics Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency are shipping to Kentucky and Arkansas storm victims are safe, officials here said. The meals -- known as “Meals, Ready to Eat,” or “MREs” -- will replace the commercial meal kits that have been distributed to the storm victims. DLA’s Defense Distribution Center in New Cumberland, Pa., is arranging shipment of the meals, scheduled for delivery today. A recent Food and Drug Administration recall of some products containing peanut butter has prompted the Defense...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As Sgt. Michael Franks pulled up to a shack resting among the ice-coated limbs of a forest in northeast Arkansas, he said he couldn't believe that anyone was living on the property

EDDYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In the first real test of the Obama administration's ability to respond to a disaster, Kentucky officials are giving the federal government good marks for its response to a deadly ice storm. Yet more than 300,000 residents remained without power Monday and some areas had yet to see aid workers nearly a week after the storm, a fact not lost on some local authorities. "We haven't seen FEMA. They haven't been here," said Jaime Green, a spokeswoman for the emergency operations center in Lyon County, about 95 miles northwest of Nashville, Tenn. Federal authorities insisted they...

In some parts of rural Kentucky, they're getting water the old-fashioned way -- with pails from a creek. There's not room for one more sleeping bag on the shelter floor. The creative are flushing their toilets with melted snow. At least 42 people have died, including in Kentucky five from the storm and six others suspected to be storm-related, and conditions are worsening in many places days after an ice storm knocked out power to 1.3 million customers from the Plains to the East Coast. About a million people were still without electricity Friday, and with no hope that the...

Last week a massive ice storm struck the heartland of America, leaving at least 42 dead and millions without power or water. Days later there are still over a million people in Kentucky who have no power, no water, and no communications. They could have to survive this way for weeks! The conditions are dire and getting worse, with some storm survivors carrying pails of water from creeks. Thousands more are living in shelters with no timetable for returning home. FEMA is nowhere to be found. Amid this catastrophe, where is President Barack Obama? While millions are struggling were struggling...

We may want to remind ourselves of media and political coverage of past natural disasters because the media remains besotted with Team Obama, and... by the way it's day 7 of dozens of people freezing to death in the Midwest and where's the Obama government? ... Let’s see… what’s the media’s reaction to the catastrophe in Kentucky where more than 45 people have died during a “global warming” ice storm. ... Ed Driscoll has a fair headline: Obama Dozed, People Froze! Headline via the The Sundries Shack, which asks, "Has anyone seen FEMA lately?" It seems we have people dying...

Ohio Humvees Help In Kentucky Storm ReliefSun, Feb 01, 2009. 03:31 PM By: Jennifer Steck Louisville, KY. (AP) -- Airmen from the National Guard are headed to Ohio to pick up Humvees to aid in relief efforts from the ice storm that has crippled parts of Kentucky, especially in the western region. Sgt. Phil Speck of the Kentucky Air National Guard says the Airmen will board a C-130 in Louisville on Sunday afternoon to fly to Columbus, Ohio. They'll drive back to Kentucky in the Ohio National Guard's humvees and spread out to areas of western Kentucky where they are...

MARION, Ky. – A crippling winter storm has plunged about a million customers into the dark from the Midwest to the East Coast, and thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky have sought refuge in motels and shelters. Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. Some in rural Kentucky ran short of food and bottled water, and resorted to dipping buckets in a creek.

MARION, Ky. – In some parts of rural Kentucky, they're getting water the old-fashioned way — with pails from a creek. There's not room for one more sleeping bag on the shelter floor. The creative are flushing their toilets with melted snow. At least 42 people have died, including 11 in Kentucky, and conditions are worsening in many places days after an ice storm knocked out power to 1.3 million customers from the Plains to the East Coast. And with no hope that the lights will come back on soon, small communities are frantically struggling to help their residents.

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Utility crews renewed work in subfreezing temperatures Saturday in their effort to put the power back on for nearly a million customers left in the dark by an ice storm that crippled parts of several states this week. Thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky awoke in motels and shelters, asked to leave their homes by authorities who said emergency teams in some areas were too strapped to reach everyone in need of food, water and warmth.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Gov. Steve Beshear is ordering the largest call-up of National Guard forces in Kentucky state history. A state official said about 438,000 Kentucky homes and businesses remain without electricity following this week's ice storm. Beshear called up all of his Army National Guard troops and some Air National Guard units to get the state back on its feet following the crippling ice storm. "This is the largest state call-up of Kentucky National Guard forces in the history of the commonwealth," Beshear said. "It represents the strongest possible effort to relieve human suffering and ensure the safety and...

I think its time we raise a stink about the lack of news coverage regarding the Ice Storm and what appears to be a lack of concern from Obama's administration. Head on over to Fox News website, scroll down to the bottom for the news tip box (lower left) and ask them why they are not raising questions regarding what is being done by the administration to help. Obama seems so intent on getting the porkulus bill passed he's ignoring the emergency and the struggle of regular American's in just getting the basics like WATER! Ok, I'm done for now....

At least 42 people have died in the icy arc of destruction that began in the Midwest. At least nine deaths were reported in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

Governor calls up record number of Guard troops Some 4,600 Kentucky National Guard troops are part of a record-setting effort to dig out from a paralyzing winter storm that continues to leave hundreds of thousands Kentuckians in the dark and is being blamed on a growing number of deaths. "We're in for a long haul here," said Gov. Steve Beshear at a Saturday night press conference at the Boone Guard Center in Frankfort. Kentucky "is in the middle of the biggest natural disaster this state has ever experienced in modern history." Beshear said state officials have confirmed seven deaths as...

The brutal winter storm that caused havoc from Texas to Maine has paralyzed swaths of Kentucky, now working to cope with what it says is the worst power outage in the state's history.

reports coming in of major damage from 1-2 inches of ice over the area..its still raining with temps below freezing in many areas. information is sketchy but major damage to infrastructure are trickling in. Damage to houses from falling trees, multiple power poles down, and widespread power outages Travel is impossible in many area because of 100's of downed trees blocking the roads. Fires are reported in some area widespread state of emergencies issued Northern AR, SE MO and western KY seems to the the hardest hit so far..but things are icing up fast now in the Louisville/Lexington areas too

People across much of the country are battling a slippery mix of snow and ice today as a storm that stretches 1,400 miles across 26 states continues to leave its mark, causing at least 19 deaths. The winter weather that lingered in Oklahoma and the Plains states earlier this week moved into the Northeast overnight, leaving countless commuters hammered by icy roads. Cars have slid off roads. Power lines have collapsed under the weight of the ice. In some places, three inches of ice have piled up. Many schools are closed from Maryland to Maine as the storm travels east....

PADUCAH, Ky. – Storm-battered residents of several states hunkered down in frigid homes and shelters Thursday, expecting to spend at least a week without power and waiting in long lines to buy generators, firewood, groceries and bottled water.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Well over a million people shivered in ice-bound homes across the country Wednesday, waiting for warmer weather and for utility crews to restring power lines brought down by a storm that killed 23 as it took a snowy, icy journey from the Southern Plains to the East Coast. But with temperatures plunging, utility officials warned that it could be mid-February before electricity is restored to some of the hardest-hit places.

By RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer Published: 1/29/2009 7:02 PM Last Modified: 1/30/2009 5:33 AM COOKSON — Sun-warmed temperatures that climbed near 50 degrees boosted — and sometimes hindered — power restoration efforts Thursday in areas gripped by the recent ice storm. According to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, nearly 26,000 homes and businesses statewide remain without electricity because of the storm Thursday afternoon. The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives reported more than 24,000 electric cooperative customers are without power, with the highest number of outages concentrated in Cherokee and Adair counties. While the thaw allowed tree limbs and electric lines...