Dec. 28, 2000--More than half a million electric customers have lost power as a result of the most recent ice storm which rolled through the southern plains, and as a result, several Arkansas cities are also without water.
Southwestern Arkansas has been hit the hardest by the winter storm that came to the area around Christmas day. According to reports from the Associated Press, 14 deaths have been attributed to the ice storm in the region.
In Hot Springs, the power was knocked out to the whole town, including the local water treatment plant. Residents in the town of about 33,000 have had to get their water at public spring water taps downtown. When the city water does start running again, residents must boil it before drinking or cooking.
About half the outages in the southern Great Plains region were in Arkansas, where Gov. Huckabee has declared a state of emergency. In Oklahoma, about 120,000 lost their power. In Texas about 106,000 did not have power, and an additional 50,000 do not have power in Louisiana.
