By: Shelby Mills
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The Northwest Arkansas Region has been hit with two winter storms since the start of the year that have affected residents’ homes and businesses.
Severe winter storms come with many complications, including the loss of electricity.
Vidi Qualls is a resident of Hindsville who lost electricity in her home for almost 48 hours last week. She is a mother to a two-year-old and said that the loss of electricity made it difficult to feed her family.
“Thankfully my husband does have a generator, so we have been able to use that to connect the instapot to make quick soups,” Qualls said.
Not only did residential properties lose power, but also businesses in the area.
The Harps Food Store located on Crossover Road also lost power during the winter storm. Assistant Grocery Manager, Max Hendrycy said the store lost products due to the lack of electricity along with 14 other locations.
“We lost products in meat, deli, and almost all of our departments,” Hendrycy said.
Click below to hear more from Qualls, Hendrycy, and Manager of Marketing & Communication at Ozarks Electric Cooperative, Erin Rogers.
Rogers explains that there are no steps to preventing a power outage.
“Weather is a lot of times unpredictable, but we train for this everyday. Whether it is a hot, sunny day or a cold, snowy, icy day, but we do everything we possibly can to make safety our number one priority not only for our employees, but also for our members,” Rogers said.
70,000 Northwest Arkansas residents were affected by power outages during this storm, but most only lost power for one to two days.
While the temperature has warmed up this week, more winter weather could come later in the month.