People all across the River Valley have been battling power outages and slick roads as a result of sleet and ice coating power lines, roads and tree limbs.
Charles Maxwell and his Waldron family have been using a generator, candles and even a stove to stay warm. He said not having power has been inconvenient, but one thing has been very difficult.
"Not being able to shower," he said.
Tim Hilter said trees limbs soaked in sleet came crashing down like dominoes in his yard in Greenwood.
“A lot of cleanup,” said Hilter. “We have a lot of limbs back down there.”
“The power to the whole city was actually flickering on the way over here,” said Greenwood resident, Neal Scroggins. “Kind of like a movie.”
"Just a big blue light,” he said. “A big blue ball of light out there, pretty loud, scared my little daughter.”
The intersection of Highways 10 and 71 turned into a parking lot, with no traffic lights in sight and officers manning the traffic.
"There's not much we can do," said Krista Strozzier.
Krista’s family was one of many in Greenwood who lost power Thursday night.
"It was kind of scary,” she said.
The Strozzier family as well preps for outages by stocking up on food, lighting a gas heater and candles.
They said it could be best for those to stay put, with the slick roads stretching across the River Valley.
"They just need to stay home, be very careful if you have to go out."
As the weathers course of action is uncertain for our area, they said concern is high.
Representatives from local electric companies tell 5NEWS with wide spread outages across our area, many assume electric companies are aware an outage has occurred.
However, that`s not always the case. When power goes out, customers should find a way to report it.
5NEWS spoke with Peter Main with Southwestern Electric Power Company and asked why weren't more trees trimmed to prevent outages?
"No amount of tree trimming can prevent the kind of damage in an ice storm like this," he said.
Many question, why are not all power lines installed underground? Main said it's a matter of cost being anywhere from five to ten times more expensive to put them underground.
