POPLAR BLUFF, Mo., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Officials in southeast Missouri say they are making progress in the recovery from a huge ice storm that blacked out the area last week.
Most of the people who were using shelters have gone home, although the shelters remain open and around 40,000 utility customers were still without electricity Tuesday.
"We've made a lot of progress," Poplar Bluff, Mo., Deputy Police Chief Jeff Rolland told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We are transitioning to debris removal."
Poplar Bluff was one of the communities in Missouri's Bootheel region that were hit by a storm that left as much as an inch of heavy ice in some places and several inches of snow to the north in St. Louis.
Diesel generators were picking up the slack in many areas while curfews and boil-water orders remained in effect. The newspaper said the Humane Society of Missouri was soliciting donations of pet food for families having trouble getting supplies.
