Power Outage in Vinton Expected to Last Several Days

By Jillian Petrus, Reporter

Tools

By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Jul 12, 2011 at 11:33 AM CDT

Story Updated: Jul 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM CDT

VINTON, Iowa - “On our way down to the basement our kitchen windows blew out,” Marcy Horst of Vinton explained while she and her daughter cleaned up debris from their front yard. That frightening early morning wake up call was just the start of a very long day for Horst and her family.

“My sister from Cedar Rapids brought us a generator right away, so we got that plugged in,” Horst said.

Horst and other Vinton residents are in for a long week of hard work cleaning up the mess from a storm producing 100 mile an hour winds.

Some people we spoke to say they plan to get out of town tonight and go somewhere with lights and air conditioning.

Orville Sanders has only lived in Vinton three months. He expects he’ll be in Cedar Rapids at night for the next week.

“Probably stay in Cedar Rapids,” said Sanders, “we have insurance that’s what it’s there for.”

For those who plan to sweat out a long night, or have nowhere else to go, the Red Cross has cold water and fans blowing cool air throughout the high school running on generator power as well. The volunteers expect more than sixty people to stay here tonight.

“If it weren’t so hot, people might be more comfortable staying in their homes,” said Angela Jordan with the Red Cross. “When it’s this hot, you have no power you just can’t get comfortable.”

Some areas of this town maybe in total darkness, The University of Iowa is bringing in extra police force to patrol the community.

“We’re just going to help as long as it takes,” said UI Director of Public Safety, Chuck Green. “We have other officers at the university that can come and relieve other officers who are here.”

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