With no electricity in his house and no traffic on State Route 141, Kitts Hill resident Randy Harper heard the Lawrence County's most destructive winter storm of the season ripping through the county loud and clear.

"It was like a small war going on," he said.

On the night of Feb. 15, branches were breaking and trees were crashing to the ground, falling onto his house and yard non-stop, Harper said. The trees were covered with large amounts of ice, creating too much weight for them to handle. One oak tree limb broke and landed in Harper's yard. He split the limb for firewood.

"That ice has to be pretty heavy to break oak," he said."

Meanwhile, Harper and his wife had no electricity throughout the week. As of Saturday afternoon, they were still in the dark.

The Harpers are not alone. Last weekend's ice storms wreaked havoc on Lawrence County residents. While areas near the Ohio River stayed relatively clear, areas to the north were torn to shreds with fallen trees, closed roads, ice, downed power poles and lines. Residents spent a week, possibly longer, in the dark. School districts already over their snow day limits cancelled classes.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Bob Taft declared a state of emergency in Lawrence County.

No one was available to answer the telephone Saturday, but according to a recording on the American Electric Power's media information line, 800 customers in the Ironton area were without power as of 8 a.m. Saturday morning. The Chesapeake area had been restored.

Also, no one was available to answer telephone calls for Buckeye Rural Electric, but a recording stated that as of 6:15 a.m. Saturday, there were scattered outages in the company's service area. One hundred and fifty line workers, including workers from neighboring states were working to restore power, the recording stated. However, workers are continually finding broken lines or poles in need of repair.

Due to the widespread nature of the damage,

no estimated time for restoration in any specific area was offered in the recording.

Meanwhile, county residents are continuing to wait.

Judy Duncan, who lives at the bottom of Kitts Hill along State Route 141, lost electricity at her house Feb. 15 and still had no electricity a week later. The situation has been frustrating for her.

"It's horrible, absolutely horrible," she said.

Duncan said she has no family in the area, so she has been forced to stay at her house, which has had no heat since she lost electricity. Earlier in the week, she took a shower at the City Mission and was forced to throw out the food she had in the refrigerator because it was ruined. To save some of her food, she has been grilling some of it outside in the cold weather.

Because she missed work Monday in a futile attempt to buy a heater, Duncan said she has been working 10- to 12-hour days to avoid having to use her vacation time. She has also lost income as a result of the storm. She works for a hospital, and needs her computer. What makes her situation even more frustrating, she said, is that she has not seen any power company personnel around her home.

Kitts Hill resident Christopher Ryan, Duncan's neighbor, moved to the area from Massachusetts last July. Even though he has lived through New England snow storms, Ryan said he has never had an experience like he is having right now.

"It's been hell for lack of any other word to put it," he said.

Ryan also had no electricity Saturday. His two teen-age children are staying with friends' families who have generators, but his wife and 5-year-old son are at home with him. Having a 5-year-old at home with no television or video games has been "an experience," he said.

Willow Wood resident Becky Shuff did not have electricity Saturday night, either, nor did she have water. Members of her family had been carrying water from a spring so they could flush toilets and do dishes, she said. They have not been cooking, either. They have been living on "junk food" such as potato chips or Vienna sausage.

The weather also altered a family's funeral plans.

Ernie Hall, director of Hall Funeral Home in Proctorville, said a family in the Willow Wood area lost electricity before a relative's funeral. This family had also planned to have the funeral at the church near their residences, but it had no power as well. The service was moved to the funeral home and postponed for a day.

Generators have helped residents, but they come with a price.

Rhonda Rigney, owner of R & R Grocery on Greasy Ridge, said her store had to use a generator for six days. Their electric came on Saturday. Every six hours, she said, the generator, which kept the store's coolers running, had to be refueled. With the higher gas prices, running the generator cost $30 a day.

At 8 a.m. last Sunday morning, Jim Hacker, owner of Iron City Hardware, said he received calls from customers who were in trouble after losing electricity. He came in and opened the store early, and has been selling out of kerosene, kerosene heaters, oil lamps, lamp oil and fuel for camping stoves ever since. An emergency shipment of items arrived at his store last night.

"It's been crazy," he said. "People are really in trouble. They're tired, cold and trying to get by."

Sometime tomorrow, Cecil Townsend, county manager for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said State Route 93, closed throughout the week, is likely to reopen today. If it reopens,

workers will probably concentrate on clearing county and township roads. Saturday, the route was closed at the 10-mile marker because of high water.

Townsend said he admires the work done by government officials and employees as well as private citizens.

"From commissioners to trustees, there's been all kinds of people helping," he said. "There's been women and kids dragging brush."

At 20-mile marker of State Route 93, ODOT workers found a man who had been staying in a camper in the middle of the road for a few days, Townsend said. Trees had fallen behind him and in front of him, and ODOT workers cut trees to get him out.

"It seems like it's brought people together," Townsend said. "People did whatever it took. Volunteer Fire Departments are to be commended."

The Western West Virginia Red Cross chapter opened a shelter in Symmes Valley High School Friday morning. According to Red Cross volunteer Julia Darth, very few people have come to the shelter at this time, but the shelter does offer a place to cook meals and take a shower. No family service representative had arrived at press time, she said.

Everett Riffe, a resident of Lawrence Street Road, said his neighbors made cleaning up the area a community effort. A group of young men cleared trees which was eventually used for firewood while others made sure neighbors had kerosene.

"There's still some good people out there, believe it or not," he said.

"It's been a long week," Joe Justice, Aid Township Volunteer Fire Department said.

Earlier this week, Justice and other firefighters had to cut eight trees at once for an ambulance to pass through. While the ambulance was at the patient's house, more trees fell in front of the path. The firefighters had to remove this as well.

Justice complimented the work of ODOT, volunteer firefighters throughout the county and several others who have helped residents recover from this storm.

"A bunch of people in the county needs a pat on the back for what they've done," he said.