(Host) Governor Jim Douglas has declared a state of emergency in four Vermont counties as a result of ice damage from last week’s winter storm.
The order clears the way for the state to apply for federal disaster assistance.
Meanwhile Central Vermont Public Service says 4,100 people remain without electricity in southern Vermont, mainly in Windham County.
VPR’s Steve Zind visited one of the areas hit by the ice storm.
(radio) "ten-four, sounds good…"
(Zind) Mist hangs in the hills of southern Vermont on Monday afternoon, drifting through trees still covered in ice. Up a backroad in Chester Ed Whittemore and his CVPS crew have just restored power to houses that have been without electricity since late Thursday night. Whittemore says up here the power poles are located away from the road, which has made repairing them time consuming.
(Whittemore) "Had a lot of ice problems with the trees and the pine boughs breaking. We had wire down just about every other pole. It’s all off road, so we had to climb every pole.
(Zind) Whittemore says there was as much as an inch of ice coating trees and utility lines in this area. But the worst of the storm damage in Vermont is south of here around Wilmington. It’s likely some members of this crew will move down there once work here is done.
Since last week’s storm, the linemen have been working with just four or five hours of sleep a night and some quick breaks for meals.
"Let’s go get something to eat"
(Zind) Just down the road, Nicholas and Tamasin Kekic are running the dishwasher now that their power’s back on.
For the last few days they’ve had to haul water from a nearby stream, but they have a small generator and wood heat, so the couple and their two children were able to stay comfortable at home.
But the Kekics operate a glassblowing business from their home and they and their employees have been idle at what is the busiest time of year.
(Kekic) "We can’t actually manufacture glass until we have electricity. And we also do a lot of work on the internet, and so we need our computer and all those things."
(Zind) Utility officials say much of the damage is in higher elevations, along backroads like the Kekics where lines are hard to reach. CVPS says some customers, especially in Windham County, may not see their power restored until Friday.
For VPR news, I’m Steve Zind in Chester.