Relief efforts continue with water, ice handouts in Charleston
July 11, 2012 ·
For some West Virginia residents, the count is at 11 and 12 days without power. People from all over the state came to the corner of Smith and Morris in Charleston Tuesday to stock up on ice and water.
Captain Stanley Dean with the Charleston Fire Department is
manning the ice and water stop outside of Appalachian Power Park. Dean said he’s seen 11 cars come through the
stop and it hasn’t even been open an hour yet.
“There’s been all kinds of people from different people from
different areas,” Dean said.
“We had a Boone County stop by to get a truckload of ice
and water. Some people have doctor’s
appointments; they’ll see the sign and stop by to get some ice and water to
take back to their family in St. Albans or Boone County.
We’ve got to try to provide for everybody as much as we can.”
Carol Jackson and Ronnie Jones made the trek to downtown Charleston from South Charleston. They said it’s the first time
they’ve taken advantage of a giveaway since they lost power 12 days ago.
”We have my daughter’s refrigerator, I lost everything at my
house,” Jackson said.
“But we have a generator on my daughter’s fridge to
keep it running. We got to keep the meat
and I’ve been cooking on an electric skillet.
But to be honest with you, I haven’t had the gas to be driving all over
the place. We’ve been trying to keep the
generator going; we’ve got $225 in generator gas.”
Ronnie leans back in the passenger seat of the van as members
of Charleston’s fire department load ice into his
hatchback trunk. He said even something
as simple as frozen water makes a difference.
The East End’s Gary Turpin has been without power twice now. He’ll use the ice so he doesn’t have to buy
groceries again.
“It helps out because our freezer has been acting up since
the power’s been messing us up,” Turpin said. “We just need it.”
Meanwhile Judy Parker drove more than 40 minutes from Frame
to get supplies to help her neighbors.
“It’s a long ways to come get it. I’m just doing it to help
the people,” Parker said with a laugh. “I don’t need it so I give it to
them. What they give to me, I give to
other people. We’re just trying to help
them.”
Dean says they’ll probably go through a couple pallets of
water before the day is over.