After sweeping through the great state of Texas and then traversing around Louisiana, Hurricane Ike has wreaked more havoc than any other hurricane to make landfall in the United States. On Sunday, September 14, the first day of the power outage in Louisville, KY, many residents were forced to relive days when electricity and transportation were in the early stages of life. Gasoline prices jumped from $ 3.60 a gallon to $ 4.15 a gallon overnight, and fuel shortages caused chaos at all stations that had electricity. Mobile phone use was at an all time high, when the system was not bogged down and calls could be completed.
Everyone believed that power would return shortly when Category 1 hurricane winds of 75 mph passed through Louisville International Airport. Local gas and power company LG&E has said it will take 10 to 14 days of outage before they can restore power to everyone who was affected. State Governor Steve Beshear has spoken out in favor of a reformulated gas waiver valid until Sept. 30 to bring in gasoline that is not necessarily up to air standards. This would bring relief to the thousands out of fuel who continue to roam the streets in search of the last available drops.
Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson has partnered with Steve Beshear to bring in the Kentucky National Guard to help with cleanup and to assist the public at traffic lights in congested areas. At the start of the blackout, more than 80% of the state was without power. Right now, the number has dropped to fewer than 129,000 households still in the dark. LG&E has workers from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and some surrounding states helping local workers 24 hours a day to restore service to as many as possible.
Dare to Care food banks have opened in many parts of the city, and the Red Cross has prepared meals on wheels for residents without electricity. Due to the prolonged hiatus now on their sixth day, most have lost all refrigerated food and must rely on outside sources to eat. Dare to Care distributes 2 grocery bags of dry goods to residents in exchange for their name and number of people in the household. Those on the Food Stamp program can now go to the L&N building to request a replacement amount equal to the cost of the food they lost due to the disruption.
With gas and groceries closed, the economy in Louisville is stagnant. Public schools have been closed for a whole week and the nation’s largest shipper, UPS, has canceled some of its shifts. Shively, PRP, Downtown, and the East End are the hardest hit by this natural disaster. So far there are 2 deaths related to this storm, a small child struck by a tree branch and a woman using a generator inside her home died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Worse storms have been recorded in Louisville, but no major damage is known in the records for such a large area.
