The American Red Cross is pitching in to help people displaced by the winter storm that hit Missouri over the weekend, while Missouri Electric Cooperatives are standing by to help states where ice has cut power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Missouri was “very lucky” with this past weekend’s winter storm, according to Caleb Jones, CEO of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. He said power outages have not been a major problem statewide.
“At some point, our 40 electric cooperatives had a handful of outages, but most of them were non-weather related, whether it’s a vehicle hitting a pole or, you know, a transformer breaking or a fuse getting thrown,” Jones told Missourinet.
So far, Missouri Electric Cooperatives has not received any requests from other states to help with their power outages, but Jones said they’re ready to assist if needed.
“Right now, Kentucky electric cooperatives are looking at close to 80,000 outages,” he said. “Mississippi electric cooperatives are right around 175,000 (outages).”
Last year, Missouri Electric Cooperatives did not deploy out of state, but Jones said they did deploy in-state to respond to numerous tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
But the extreme cold remains in place in Missouri during nighttime and early morning hours. Jones advises homeowners to conserve power during peak hours.
“Those are the times of day when energy demand is the highest,” he said. “Typically, it’s cold winter mornings, like we’ve all been experiencing when people are heating their homes, cooking, getting ready for the day.”
Jones suggested that people turn their thermostats down two or three degrees and avoid using multiple major appliances at the same time, as a means of not overburdening the power grid. He also said doing so will help keep your monthly power bill lower during the extreme cold.
Meanwhile, the American Red Cross is pitching in to help people displaced by the winter storm that hit Missouri over the weekend.
Jade Poe is Executive Director of the Red Cross’s Northern and Central Missouri chapter. She said they are assisting various groups that have opened shelters.
“I know like in St. Louis, there were some local partners that reached out to the Red Cross and asked if we could support in various ways. And so, it really just depends on the location and what’s needed,” Poe told Missourinet. “But we try to be as prepared as we can to help out in whatever way is needed during these crises.”
Poe said they’re helping them with food and other resources.
“Some organizations might ask to borrow cots. We have a lot of cots prepared in the event that we do have to house people,” she said.
The Red Cross is currently not operating any overnight shelters in Missouri and only one in Arkansas, which was hit by both ice and snow. Poe told Missourinet the situation was not desperate enough for them to directly open their own shelters.
“We were prepared to if we needed to, but we also partner with a lot of local organizations who did have a lot of shelter operations going,” she said.
Those who need to get out of the cold but don’t need overnight housing are being urged to visit a library, shopping mall, or other warming center. An interactive map showing designated warming centers can be found online at Mo.gov.
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