Alex, owasso (12/13/2007 7:02:19 AM)

I still dont have power but, theese guy are working there butts off on 16 hour shift props to them

Terry, Houston (12/13/2007 8:45:32 AM)

Does anybody know how the power restoration work is being prioritized? My parents' neighborhood has not seen any workers yet. I know the front-line workers are working as hard as they can (thanks!), but the question is how are the bosses determining which areas to work on first.

Jeff, (12/13/2007 8:45:51 AM)

mad props for sure. All of the utility companies deserve kudos, along with QT.

Stacey Long, Hayward, CA (12/13/2007 8:46:59 AM)

On behalf of my parents who live in Tulsa and still do not have electricity...

Please make sure the names and addresses of shelters and emergency services are well publicized. Have signs with this information posted at grocery stores and other well popluated areas. Plan to have patrol cars drive through neighborhoods with flyers if necessary as those who need this information the most will not be able to recieve this information from watching the news. If left neglected, the results could be catastrophic and reach Katrina proportions. Please help.

Ted, Tulsa (12/13/2007 8:59:20 AM)

My understanding is that once they get high priority customers (eg: Hospitals, etc), they prioritize based on which fixes get the most customers going at one go. What we in the software biz call a "greedy algorithm". So if you are in a 3 square mile area without power in the middle of the city you can probably count on getting back up before the two houses who had a tree fall on their feeder line.

On PSO's website at (facist posting s/w won't let me give you the address) you will find some maps of the outages and what work they reckon they have to do where. Also, you may want to report your outage to them, just in case they missed you somehow.

R Allen, Tulsa (12/13/2007 9:19:47 AM)

At least Qdoba Mexican Grill at Lewis and 71st is now open! That makes this all a little more palatable.

PEG, (12/14/2007 11:36:49 PM)

#27 IT IS GRAMMAR...NOT GRAMMER.

OK. I have OG and E. Their customer service stinks. I seriously don't know where they are. I have seen crews (today) from NC. However, they were gone by 6pm with two poles left to do to get our devastated neighborhood finished. Six days with no end in sight. yes, I do appreciate those who are working to get our power on....we had at least 6 poles completely snapped...just on the road to our house and today was the first day someone came on the road. And I am sorry if the person answering the phone doesn't make much money it doesn't give them the right to hang up on customers....and to the one saying if you have a way to post then you have power...it is called WIFI....I don't need power if my battery is well charged.....

okay, (12/14/2007 11:45:24 PM)

#87we do thank your husband, but lets be serious here. People are tired and cold. It is quite possible that a lineman would expect to work in the rain and sleet at some point since we live in Oklahoma and that is what happens. It does annoy people though that it seems their neighborhood hasn't been fixed.....I am six days now and just today someone finally started working.......we are in the cold too. I can tell you it is warmer outside than it was in my living room the last two nights. The lineman from out of state are certainly not staying in cold homes because we can't even find a hotel to go to. No one has even came to our neighborhood to see if there is someone in need of help....elderly people may not know how to get help etc. patience is wearing thin everywhere.

ok, (12/14/2007 11:53:55 PM)

#85

there are men everyday fighting in a war who will never see their first born children. There are firefighters and police officers who work everyday and miss births and other events...and like the lineman, they chose this- all dangerous jobs and for the good of others- I don't think people should be made to feel guilty because they are cold,tired and without heat- yes they are out there and like the others I mentioned, they chose this and we are THANKFUL they did because we need them but lets not start being martyrs here......there are jobs with sacrifices and pay that comes with it. Give people a break here WE ARE ALL TIRED AND COLD

susie, tulsa (12/14/2007 12:52:10 AM)

All those that are saying you want the lines buried well guess what if they get buried the cost is passed on to the customer. So if you want the high bills then contact your local utility company and tell them that you want the lines buried but dont be surprised when you bill goes up b/c I guarantee you will be the first ones calling in asking, "why is my bill so high?" Also dont think just because your lines are buried that you will not lose power. PSO cant bury the huge transmissions lines and the substations. So if you think that buryng the lines will solve the problem think again. Be grateful that there are people working out in the ice and cold weather trying to get your power back on. Try getting in their shoes for one day. It is a very dangerous job. Also to share... I have a friend her son is a lineman and his wife went into labor w/ their first child and he was not even able to be at the birth of their son. So see he missed that trying to get YOUR power back on. He had to miss something he will never get back.

David, tulsa (12/14/2007 6:35:22 AM)

I agree that it is somewhat amazing to think that the lines CAN be buried with little additional costs to the consumer but they can. I have over 30 years experience in this industry. The fact is that on every new construction project for a road move, a coordinated utility construction plan would nuetralize current costs. The repair costs are expense, therefore they go into the immediate cost for rate cases, rather than capitalized which is paid for over the life of the asset. furthermore, repairs do nothing to prevent the next repeat, simply restores what was there. Buried lines in Oklahoma have an 85% less trouble report rate than aerial. The costs of planning and construction are roughly 33% of the overtime, rush and construction cost of repair/replacement. Face it, we are getting snowed with the "look at how well we respond, think about these poor employees, it was a natural disaster" stuff. The truth is, it cannot be avoided but it can be anticipated and planned for in design!!! Michigan doesnt have this problem yet has much more severe weather!!! Just FYI, it can be done and it should be done!!! We shouldnt pay more because of inefficiency and we dont have too!

TIFFANY, SKIATOOK (12/14/2007 10:56:00 AM)

I'M MARRIED TO A LINEMAN THAT IS WORKING THIS TRAGEDY. PEOPLE SHOULD KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY ARE WORKING LONG HOURS IN THE BAD WEATHER (RAIN & SLEET) AND THEN COMING HOME TO DARK, COLD HOMES. PRAY FOR THEIR SAFETY. PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE THEY WORK. IT'S A SHAME THAT WHILE THEY ARE OUT PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO YELL AND BE HATEFUL TO THEM.

Sam, Tulsa (12/14/2007 1:46:58 PM)

Actually, I haven't seen anyone yelling at the linemen. Most of us in Tulsa are very tolerant people and understand they work like we work: they do what they are told to do. They jsut do it in longer increments and worst o cnditions, but we "blue-color" workers can relate to their situation. Sometimes we work for less than stellar bosses and some bosses make mistakes. We still don't take it out on them, but ask yourself this: when your cable doesn;'t work who do YOU take it out on? The installer, the manager or the person who makes $6.50 an hour answering the phone? How about when your burger isn't right...McD's corporate or the $6.50 an hour counter help? The tendency of people to crap on those who they consider beneath them while kissing the hiney of people they need or admire knows no bounds and is exhibited in their schzophrenic, hyperbolic approach to issues. I do not think the linemen annoy any of us enough to yell at. In fact, the only people that get under my skin are PEOPLE THAT YELL!!!!!

Renea, Tulsa (12/14/2007 3:04:15 PM)

Please explain this to me, I live in an apartment complex, off of 71st and Riverside, my apartment building sits in the middle of the complex, theres about a total of 25 buildings total...okay here's the problem...EVERY building, except mine and the building directly across from mine (which both sit directly in the middle) DON'T HAVE POWER, but the rest of the ENTIRE complex has power???...now doesn't that sound like there is a problem with the Apartment Complex's equipment??? Now I'm getting the bounce around game, they're playing the blame game...the apartment staff says it's PSO's problem, and PSO says I need to talk to my apartment management because they've restored all in that area, and if two buildings are still without power..there's a problem???...Does anyone have any suggestion or ideas of what I should do??

doc feelgood, east BA (12/14/2007 10:40:03 PM)

GLOBAL WARMING!!!

jennie , okie (12/13/2007 8:41:07 PM)

For FEMA you can contact your local city office and they can help you get what is needed.

FEMA?, Nawoleans (12/13/2007 9:25:26 PM)

FEMA is coming to our rescue? Have they finished with NO and the Katrina cleanup yet? I'm still cold and waiting....Dang I wish I had buried power lines.....

been there, done that, Springfield, MO (12/13/2007 9:42:32 PM)

#79....hate to burst you bubble, but PSO and the co-ops have got to pay for this mess somehow, so guess what? You will get a bill in the amount you paid at this time 1 yr. ago....or an estimate of your average usage. However, to get service repaired today, who wants to complain about the bills to come?

Brad, Tulsa (12/13/2007 9:43:14 PM)

I appreciate all of the hard work from the contractors restoring the power. I know it's very hard, miserable work!

But for AEP/PSO management, they butchered our trees for the last several year & when the ice storm hits, 2/3rds of us are without power!! I -- & Most others -- still have our gas supply. That's because THOSe lines are buried. Bury the electric lines already! Yes, it's expensive! - But what do these thousands of contractors cost? Not to mention I'm out almost $1000 for cleanup already -- & I'm not finished yet!!

Marie, Broken Arrow (12/13/2007 11:22:39 PM)

Those of you who think global warming will end this stuff, think again! Yes global warming is overall giving the world a higher temperature, but it is also to blame for many of our recent weather extremes, cold ones too... ever wonder why we've never really seen an ice storm this bad?

so what's everyone's opinion on the tree clean-up issue? i had a branch fall into a neighbors yard, it didn't damage anything but was too big to just pick up or drag, needed to be cut up. she came over to my house twice yesterday, the first time coming to my back door, and then called me at 12:30am threatening me to get rid of the branch. wtf? We just got our power on and have been trying to calm are 5 month old baby who didn't enjoy not being able to sleep in his crib for 3 days, she needs to calm the f*** down.

phyllis, fort smith (12/14/2007 12:41:32 AM)

My thoughts and prayers go out to all suffering in the cold and confusion of the ice storm. My city had a similar event 8 or 9 years ago. My family was without power for 6 days.

We lost 4 mature trees and later had 3 more removed because we have above ground utilities and could not fathom going through the damage and clean-up again.City leaders had the same discussions about burying the utilities, but still have not due to the prohibitive costs.

Diana Crumley, Madill Ok (12/13/2007 7:12:04 PM)

Lets be sure and make sure EVERYONE affect by the weather was legal !!!!!!!!

Boy oh Boy oh Boy

dw, Seattle (12/13/2007 7:16:13 PM)

We had a huge windstorm up here last year, knocked out power to 1.5 million people here in metro Seattle. In fact, we had some PSO and OG&E linemen come up here to help.

But after that there was a lot of "WE MUST BURY THE LINES" scuttlebutt. And this lasted until the utility companies mentioned that this would cost over a billion to do and would mean everyone would be paying 10-20% on their utility bills for years to come to pay for the rebuild.

So, all of you demanding the lines be buried -- you OK with paying 20% on your electric bill to pay for the rebuild? What about your $300 summer power bill going to $360? This on top of all the digging in your yard, the fences and trees they'll have to rip out....

My family is in Midtown, still waiting for the power. I've never seen anything like this. I was in high school during the Christmas '87 storm, but the scale of this is incredible. It's like the region got bombed.

Emmanuel, Phoenix (12/13/2007 7:44:25 PM)

I what to thank GOD and Tulsa World for this website. I found info on my family and they are fine. One of my relatives saw my posting and I got a call from my mother and family are ok. Thanks Jackie and TW

Emmanuel, Phoenix (12/13/2007 7:48:32 PM)

Thanks #35 for the number, I am grateful you took the time to help.