WATERLOO - To anyone in Northeast Iowa who has been struggling with lost power, spoiled food or was just plain homebound during this weekend's ice storm: The folks at Black Hawk County's Country View care facility can feel your pain. In spades.

The county care facility, operating on backup generators, has 9,000 pounds of laundry to get done. Its staff and residents, many of whom are disabled, have been living on cold food. Large quantities of perishable food will most likely spoil. Staff has been camped out at the facility.

Plus they were surrounded by downed power lines the entire weekend.

Country View's problems were typical of those suffered by numerous Northeast Iowa residents over the icy, snowy weekend. Thousands are still without power while emergency crews struggle to repair downed power lines throughout the region.

The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors issued an emergency disaster declaration for the county over the weekend.

"It's going to be an expensive proposition for the county," Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Little said.

Fortunately, administrator Sherri Niles said, staff, the city of Waterloo, Black Hawk County emergency management personnel and even the Iowa Army National Guard have come to its rescue.

It could be seven to 10 days before power is restored at the county care facility, in large part due to downed power poles along Burton Avenue and Dunkerton Road. At one point, access in or out was impossible due to downed lines.

The facility was operating on one generator, which was leaking oil. A backup generator has been secured for rent from Peoria, Ill., with the help of Black Hawk County Emergency Management, Niles said, and the National Guard showed up this morning with two additional generators.

Thousands without power

More than 250,000 customers lost power in the storm. By this morning, more than 100,000 around the state were still without power.

Around 8,000 people in Black Hawk County were still without power, said Allan Urlis, a spokesman for MidAmerican Energy.

"It's pretty scattered around Waterloo," Urlis said. "And Waterloo is one of the hardest hit areas for MidAmerican Energy customers. Several dozen poles that have been broken, several miles of transmission line are on the ground."

Elsewhere, customers were still without power in Hampton; 1,214 in Charles City; and 355 in Parkersburg, Urlis said.

Urlis said MidAmerican is bringing in crews from eight Midwestern states, both from other utilities and from private contractors - to help restore power. They have also have crews coming in from sister utilities Rocky Mountain Power and Pacific Power. Urlis said they should have 900 workers in the field today, but it is still hard to determine when power for some people may be restored.

"Some will be today. Others will be tomorrow. Others will be following that. We're still in an assessment phase, and that is identifying all the equipment that is broken and needs to be fixed," Urlis said.

Dean Reiter, a lieutenant with the Denver Volunteer Fire Department, said the town was still without power this morning. "Sounds like it's going to be awhile," Reiter said. "Last word I had last night, they were talking two to four days."

Reiter said he was without power at his house outside of Denver, but was using a wood-burning stove to keep warm. He didn't worry about food spoiling in his refrigerator, because he can just move it to a shed on his property.

"Right now, I'm going to fire up my chain saw and see if I can help somebody cut up some limbs, just to help the city out a little bit," Reiter said.

Urlis said road conditions hampered electric crews over the weekend. But improving weather should help crews to finish the work.

"You know, it's been slow-going in some areas so far," Urlis said. "It looks like we're in a position to make some significant headway today. With the numbers of people that we have, and the fact that the storm has passed, it's a sunny day, we could get some additional melting - all those factors will help us get some customers back on."

Some 8,000 to 10,000 Alliant Energy customers in North Iowa may be without power for three days to a week or even more, according to Vern Gebhart, vice president of customer relations for Alliant Energy.

Cedar Falls Utilities had fewer than 10 customers without power this morning, down from about 300 customers Sunday morning. The customers still without power were in the Cedar Heights area, where trees had taken a heavy toll on power lines.

CFU crews worked long hours throughout the weekend to restore power.

"We've got to go back and get poles back up in some of the rural areas," said CFU General Manager Jim Krieg.

CFU officials are trying to assess what the storm will cost, and are looking at long-term repairs to the system. They expect to have power restored today to all but 20 customers.

The Cedar Falls police and fire departments spent much of their time over the weekend assisting Cedar Falls Utilities crews with downed power lines.

"We just consider ourselves lucky that we didn't have any fires. We had electrical wires come off of houses, but the power shut off right away so it didn't cause us problems," said Fire Chief Steve Mitchell.

Police Chief Rick Ahlstrom said calls for service were actually below normal over the weekend. Few car accidents were reported.

"Things were relatively quiet for us. On Saturday people stayed in for the most part," Ahlstrom said.

Waterloo fire crews were kept busy with downed wires, ambulance assists and false alarms caused by power outages. There were also separate house and garage fires Friday evening.

Shelters open

More than two dozen people without power took advantage of the American Red Cross Emergency Shelter in the West Gym on the University of Northern Iowa campus, said Alan McKean, director of the Hawkeye Chapter of the American Red Cross. He expects the modest turnout to grow today if crews don't restore power to parts of the city soon.

"This is a warm place to come. We will stay open until it is necessary to shut it, when power is returned and people have a warm place to go to," he said. "I think the turnout has been light up until now because people were hesitant to take to the roads."

The shelter is equipped with cots and blankets, and UNI has allowed the Red Cross access to its dining facilities. McKean said those still seeking a warm shelter should bring a sleeping bag or blankets and an air mattress if they have one.

About 20 volunteers, including UNI students and community members, helped staff the shelter.

The Howard family drove from their Parkersburg home to the shelter Saturday night after spending the day huddled in their living room floor without power.

Tammy Howard said she didn't bring her six children to the shelter until then because they were holding out for power to be restored.

"Then they told us (Saturday night) power wouldn't be up for several days, perhaps even a week," she said. "The house was getting colder, and Dawn (her daughter) was not getting better."

Sartori Memorial Hospital took in eight seniors from Hudson who needed special care. They were originally brought to the Red Cross shelter at University of Northern Iowa's West Gym by the Hudson Fire Department on Saturday, but the Red Cross determined it couldn't care for them.

The Super 8 Motel in Waverly, which normally fills one-quarter of its 41 rooms on Sundays, had been sold out for two days, largely with people from Clarksville, Denver, Janesville and Readlyn.

In Dunkerton, those without power in the outlying rural areas are invited to come to Community Hall. People can take meals to go or spend the night in a warm place, city officials said.

"If they need food and water, or a place to stay warm, we will continue to be here," Julie Rottinghaus, vice president of the Dunkerton Community Hall Board, said.

La Porte City was providing shelter at Union High School, but it was unclear if it was still available today.

Rush for supplies

Many who were left without power flocked to hardware stores in Waterloo in search of generators, kerosene and propane tanks, shovels, salt and sand. According to assistant store manager Nathan Knapp, Menard's sold out the 20 generators it had on hand, but expected a shipment of 50 today with 100 more to follow on Tuesday. And while it still had a few 20-pound propane tanks left, Knapp does not anticipate receiving any more kerosene.

"It's one of those things that you have to order early in the season, and once you're out, you can't get any more," said Knapp.

The storm cut power to many refrigerators in the area, sending residents scrambling to find food. Tony Heisman, assistant store manager at Fareway on San Marnan Drive in Waterloo, said that there was "an extremely busy rush" on Friday, but Saturday things slowed down. He said customers were mostly stocking up on essentials like bread, milk and canned goods, and he anticipates that the store will busy today and Tuesday, as well.

Finding information about the storm on the radio proved to be difficult over the weekend. KXEL lost power to three of its four stations on Saturday afternoon, including its flagship news/talk station (KXEL AM 1540), Rock 108 (KFMW-FM) and Cool 105.7 (KOKZ-FM). The transmitters for the stations get their power from different providers, including Alliant Energy, MidAmerican and REC, and are located in remote locations, according to the general manager Tim Mathews. As of this morning they were still off the air. Mathews said he had no idea when they would return. One of the group's stations, Star 1330 (KWLO- 1330 AM), managed to regain power after losing it briefly on Saturday.

School's out

Both Cedar Falls and Waterloo superintendents made the decision Sunday to cancel all classes today.

Cedar Falls Superintendent David Stoakes said crews worked through the day on Sunday to clear parking lots and sidewalks, but snow was so heavy and ice so thick crews did not have time to put down ice melt or sand.

"We are just concerned about people being safe as they come into our buildings," Stoakes said.

Staff Writers Drew Andersen, Karen Heinselman, Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeff Wilford, Emily Christensen, Josh Nelson, Amie Steffen, Jon Ericson and Jeff Reinitz contributed to this article.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319(291-1484 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com.

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