Ice Downs Limbs, Lines

Electrical service outages were experienced by the entire county Thursday morning.

School corporations cancelled classes and business openings were delayed.

Many non-essential city and county government employees were told to take the day off.

The region experienced freezing rain today and apparently the loss of service was weather-related.

Thick ice covered utility lines, tree branches and anything else left to the elements overnight.

Some businesses opened while others stayed closed.

The "power" went out around 5 a.m. in Warsaw and was restored for some around 8 a.m.

Traffic signals were working for a time then shutting down again.

There were reports of power lines in the streets and snapping off where they entered residents' homes.

Jennifer Whitaker, Warsaw's public works administrative assistant, said the street department has cleared a lot of large tree branches from the streets.

"We'll clear large limbs from an area and get a call 10 minutes later that tree tops are falling in the same location," she said.

Operating on emergency generators, the public works department is taking "lists and lists" of residents without electricity this morning out of courtesy to the power companies.

"We are asking people to call NIPSCO or REMC themselves," she said "although we know its hard to get through.

The Kosciusko County REMC director of member relations, Larry Easterday, said crews are coming from Boone County and Tipmont County REMCs.

"Collected ice is building up on wires and tree branches," he said. "The excess weight is causing lines to snap or branches are falling through the lines and knocking everything out."

Easterday said trees not normally in the lines are bowed over making the power flicker on and off.

He has no idea when full power will be restored.

"It's scary because trees are still coming down. Be ready to move out of the way quickly."

REMC is a power supplier to areas outside of Warsaw and throughout most of the county.

A recorded message answered the Northern Indiana Public Service Company's toll-free 24-Hour Customer Care Center Line. At noon people were being advised to call later due to the high volume of calls.

At 11 a.m., Syracuse town offices were still on emergency generators, power supplies were sporadic, depending on the effected transformers.

"As long as the natural gas holds out we'll be fine," said town manager Brian Redshaw.

Syracuse employees were cleaning limbs from streets and pumping out lift stations where there was no power.

"We're encouraging people to stay off the streets." Redshaw said. "They're just as vulnerable in their cars as they are on foot."