Families still feeling affects of the recent ice storm

Families from the area gathered at the Salvation Army's Multi-Agency Resource Center last week, seeking answers to their questions regarding the storm. Staff photo by Joshua Payne [Click to enlarge]

Jesse and Charles Terrett of Holland, Mo., were without power for around a week before power was restored.

The family had to live in the home, with nowhere to go, without a source of heat.

"We felt like we were freezing to death," Jesse Terrett said.

All of the food in the refrigerator spoiled without the energy source to keep it cold.

Electrical lines were hanging, in front of Charles Terrett's house, making it difficult for him to enter and leave the home.

Also, the family was without running water during the week of the outage, according to Charles Terrett.

"Everything is back to normal, well as normal as possible now," Jesse Terrett said.

"We are lucky and just feel for the others still doing without," Charles Terrett said.

Another family, who felt the affects of the ice storm, is Clarissa Wilbourn's family of Caruthersville, Mo.

The family has suffered through the April 2006 tornado, Hurricane Ike, and now the ice storm.

"It has just been bad with all of these events hitting so close together," Wilbourn said.

This time the family managed without suffering severe damage to their home, but are in need of cosmetic work.

Wilbourn is concerned, however, about the widowmaker tree in the family's front yard.

"All of the branches are broken and we are trying to get someone to cut it before some of the branches fall onto our home causing damage," Wilbourn commented.

The family's home was without power for a little over a week, according to Wilbourn.

The most challenging of the outage was the fact that Wilbourn has an insulin problem and needs to be able to see to administer medications.

The family had to travel to Dyersburg, Tenn., for all of their needs, and was able to do so because two days before the ice storm, she had filled the car up with gas.

"I was lucky that I had filled up, because if I wouldn't have, we would have been in a tough situation," Wilbourn said.

The family suffered through the power outage without a generator, because they had a lack of funds to supply gasoline to keep the machine running.

When the tornado came through Caruthersville, Wilbourn said that the generator they had cost $45 per day in gasoline.

"The worst thing, that I see now, is the people who remain without anything and no there is no government assistance for them," Wilbourn exclaimed.