Ice Storm

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Despite the cold on Thursday, many are just thankful we're not dealing with an inch to an inch-and-a-half of ice on everything.  The ice storm of 2007 changed the way many of us prepare for winter weather. Nita and Leonard Clough's house got just a trace of snow on Thursday.  Five years ago, the whole place was covered with ice.  "When I think of the ice storm, I think of the noise.  We had a whole field of trees out back and, all night long, it sounded like a war zone," said Leonard.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- As we wait for the winter weather to get to the Ozarks, City Utilities of Springfield is gearing up for a possible storm.  With more than 110,000 customers in the area, it wants to avoid a repeat of the ice storm in January 2007. "Every utility company cringes when they hear the words freezing precipitation or ice coming their direction," said CU spokesman Joel Alexander. CU especially cringes when remembering the major ice storms in 2007 and 2008 that paralyzed the  entire community for days on end. "We basically had three storms back-to-back that just stayed on top of Springfield," Alexander said.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. --  Hurricane Isaac's effects on the Ozarks are still a couple days away, but electric co-ops and companies are preparing for possible damage. Baxter County resident Boyce Drake has been keeping an eye on the forecast and is planning his grocery shopping accordingly.  "Yeah, I'll probably get a little more just in case Isaac gets us," Drake says. He's also planning for a possible power outage.  In 2008, Hurricane Ike's remnants left 17,000 North Arkansas Electric customers like Boyce out of power for up to two days.  "Mostly wind damage, trees falling on the lines, and that sort of thing," says North Arkansas Electric Operations Manager James Woody.

In less than two weeks, three people in the Ozarks have lost their lives in house fires. Red Cross leaders say these recent fires serve as a reminder people should be prepared for a disaster. These recent fatal fires happened during National Fire Prevention Week. Red Cross volunteers say there's no better time than the present to make sure you have a plan for any disaster. "If we can get more people prepared, more people planning, in a natural disaster or any kind of disaster where there is a loss of life, if we can lessen that loss of life, because people are prepared that's what it is about," said Nigel Holderby with the Red Cross.

The Home Safety and Preparedness Expo featured everything from guns and ammunition to the latest in storm shelters and solar electricity. Saturday afternoon at Remington's, along with booths, the expo also had several seminars to help educate visitors on what could happen if a natural or man-made disaster were to cut off power and communication for awhile. "In a natural disaster like the ice storm," expo host Matt Canovi said, "the government is so overwhelmed it cannot be all places at all times taking care of everybody and everybodies families.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --  Residents around the area are stocking up on supplies in case the snow and ice renders them unable to get on the roads in the coming days. "I heed the warnings.  I am a weather geek," said Theresa Ollis, a Springfield resident.  "You just get prepared and what happens, happens. " On Wednesday, folks filed into grocery stores and filling stations.  It seems nobody wants to be left without supplies.  It was certainly a situation many like found themselves in during the big ice storm of 2007… "We were out for 13 days.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Springfield Sister Cities Association said Friday that it is accepting donations for Japan in honor of Springfield’s long-standing relationship with its sister city of Isesaki, Japan.  The Sister Cities Japan Relief Fund will accept donations that will be directed to Isesaki to determine how to direct the funds toward the greatest needs in Japan. Isesaki was not seriously damaged by the earthquake or tsunami on March 11.  Tax-deductible donations may be made out to: Sister Cities Japan Relief Fund and sent to: The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, 425 East Trafficway, Springfield, Mo., 65806.

SPRINGFIELD, -- While the restoration project is underway at the Missouri Hotel, those displaced by the fire are in need of shelter. Red Cross workers are preparing to take care of 185 homeless people for the next several weeks. There's a shelter setup at the Dayspring Worship Center on Dale Street. Nearly 40 people are staying there and the rest are at Cox North. This is a community effort to make sure the homeless are not forgotten. The Red Cross is providing food, cots, blankets, pillows, clothes, and bathroom supplies.

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative crews were working Friday to restore power following the ice storm that began Thursday morning and continued through late afternoon.  At the height of the outage, HOEC officials reported just more than 3,800 members of the cooperative without power. Ice on tree limbs coming from outside of the cooperative right of ways and high winds were the main cause of power outages from the storm. At 4 p.m. Friday, the cooperative reported 142 members without power.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The National Weather Service upgraded the Winter Storm Watch to a Winter Storm Warning for Wednesday night and Thursday.  The warning for snow, sleet and freezing rain will be in effect from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.  You can track the latest watches and warnings here. Here's the forecast from Brandon Beck on Wednesday morning: Cloud cover will quickly increase today, and within east wind are temperatures will stay in the thirties.  There is a large area of precipitation moving northeast across Oklahoma and Texas.  However our very dry air will likely fight this off with most locations staying dry through the day. The exception may be Northwest Arkansas and extreme southwest Missouri, where a few showers will occur later this afternoon.  Lift will increase later on this evening with a wintry mix overspreading at least western Missouri and Arkansas later tonight.

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative crews were working Friday to restore power following the ice storm that began Thursday morning and continued through late afternoon.  At the height of the outage, HOEC officials reported just more than 3,800 members of the cooperative without power. Ice on tree limbs coming from outside of the cooperative right of ways and high winds were the main cause of power outages from the storm. At 4 p.m. Friday, the cooperative reported 142 members without power.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --  Residents around the area are stocking up on supplies in case the snow and ice renders them unable to get on the roads in the coming days. "I heed the warnings.  I am a weather geek," said Theresa Ollis, a Springfield resident.  "You just get prepared and what happens, happens. " On Wednesday, folks filed into grocery stores and filling stations.  It seems nobody wants to be left without supplies.  It was certainly a situation many like found themselves in during the big ice storm of 2007… "We were out for 13 days.

Springfield, Mo. --  There were long lines at grocery and hardware stores throughout the day Wednesday as people made the mad dash around town to gather up enough supplies to last them for at least a couple days. "It's typically the ice that draws business in due to the ice storm back in 2007 when a lot of people were without power," said Dan Grider of Harter House on Eastgate in Springfield. That storm left thousands without power for days even weeks, and now many Ozarkers know what it's like to do without.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The National Weather Service upgraded the Winter Storm Watch to a Winter Storm Warning for Wednesday night and Thursday.  The warning for snow, sleet and freezing rain will be in effect from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.  You can track the latest watches and warnings here. Here's the forecast from Brandon Beck on Wednesday morning: Cloud cover will quickly increase today, and within east wind are temperatures will stay in the thirties.  There is a large area of precipitation moving northeast across Oklahoma and Texas.  However our very dry air will likely fight this off with most locations staying dry through the day. The exception may be Northwest Arkansas and extreme southwest Missouri, where a few showers will occur later this afternoon.  Lift will increase later on this evening with a wintry mix overspreading at least western Missouri and Arkansas later tonight.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- First responders are getting ready for the winter storm on Thursday.  One place where preparations were underway on Wednesday is the American Red Cross warehouse on West Bypass. Most of the Red Cross' cars are usually parked outside, but they were inside on Wednesday so volunteers can leave as soon as they get a call.  They won't have to worry about ice on vehicles. All hands were on deck and Red Cross leaders say they are more prepared now than ever before, thanks to that ice storm we had a few years ago. Red Cross leaders say they now have a life saver: a generator to power their warehouse and offices, something that they did not have in January 2007.

BRANSON, Mo. -- As the winter storm season continues, the Branson Fire Department would like to remind Branson residents and businesses to register for the BransonAlerts emergency notification system.  BransonALERTS provides emergency and other critical information to Branson residents and businesses on land-line phones, cell phones, text enabled cell phones, and e-mail. All land-line phones registered on the 9-1-1 data base, in the white pages and yellow pages are registered automatically for emergency messages launched by the City.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- As we wait for the winter weather to get to the Ozarks, City Utilities of Springfield is gearing up for a possible storm.  With more than 110,000 customers in the area, it wants to avoid a repeat of the ice storm in January 2007. "Every utility company cringes when they hear the words freezing precipitation or ice coming their direction," said CU spokesman Joel Alexander. CU especially cringes when remembering the major ice storms in 2007 and 2008 that paralyzed the  entire community for days on end. "We basically had three storms back-to-back that just stayed on top of Springfield," Alexander said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- When we think of winter, images of ice, snow and sleet normally come to mind. But of course, it isn't always that way. Last winter was a great example of a non-winter: mild overall, and hardly any snow!  If you ask anyone who has lived long in the Ozarks what our winters are like, they might have a hard time answering. Just since 2000, we've had a lot of variety. ¿The winter of 2002-2003: almost 40 inches of snow, good for the fourth spot in the record books.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.--  A Springfield man is happy to be home after what was supposed to be a weekend trip to the east coast.  But it turned into a full week, and a rough one. Dr. Gerry Catapang was stranded by Sandy and flew into Springfield Friday afternoon.  He says it started out as a fun weekend- a reunion of 25 high school buddies.  "When I got there Friday, I called my wife, and she said, did you know there's going to be a hurricane coming?"...

In less than two weeks, three people in the Ozarks have lost their lives in house fires. Red Cross leaders say these recent fires serve as a reminder people should be prepared for a disaster. These recent fatal fires happened during National Fire Prevention Week. Red Cross volunteers say there's no better time than the present to make sure you have a plan for any disaster. "If we can get more people prepared, more people planning, in a natural disaster or any kind of disaster where there is a loss of life, if we can lessen that loss of life, because people are prepared that's what it is about," said Nigel Holderby with the Red Cross.