A lineman prepares to clear tree limbs off power lines in Orange. "Every power line in town is down," the city's emergency management coordinator says.
Martin West, 4, grabs a six-pack of water after an Army helicopter from Fort Hood left food and water at the Tyler County Airport near Woodville.
Workers reposition traffic signals that were blown askew by Hurricane Rita in Port Arthur. Because no power was available, they were unable to check to see if the signals are still functional.
A Port Arthur police officer directs a motorist to turn around on Texas 73. Only essential personnel were being allowed into the city.
Hundreds of thousands of residents throughout much of Southeast Texas could remain without power for up to two months, including much of Port Arthur, Jasper and Orange, officials said Tuesday.
And as complaints mounted from local officials that too little help was arriving too late, state emergency officials announced plans to bring in 15,000 out-of-state electrical workers to help restore power to the region.
Nearly 500,000 residents remained without power in Southeast Texas late Tuesday, hampering the efforts of many people to return to their homes and businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
"This is not a place that people would want to be," said Port Arthur City Manager Steve Fitzgibbons.
"If people come here and there's no food, no gasoline and the roads are blocked, they are going to be in a position where we'll have to be helping them," he said. "We ought to be dealing with trying to get the city back on line."
Port Arthur likely will not be operational for at least 30 days, because the main electric line into the city is beyond repair, Fitzgibbons said.
In Jasper and Orange, which also sustained heavy damage, officials were told that some areas could be without electric service for up to two months.
"Every power line in town is down," said Deputy Fire Chief Ken Kreger, the emergency management coordinator in Orange. "The feeder lines in town are down."
And in Polk County, which includes Livingston, County Judge John P. Thompson said about half the area remains without power.
Most of the hardest-hit areas get their power from two companies -- Beaumont-based Entergy, which provides service to most of the larger cities, and the Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity to most rural communities.
The power companies have brought in crews from all over the country to raise power poles, repair feeder lines and replace ruined lines and transformers. But many workers have been hampered by fallen trees that block access, officials said.
In an effort to speed repairs, state officials Tuesday announced plans to set up nine special base camps to house thousands of additional out-of-state workers to be brought in to help with repairs.
The plan, according to Gov. Rick Perry's office, would also use locomotive engines and large mobile generators to provide power to electric co-ops that could then operate water plants and other essential facilities.
The Texas Public Utility Commission called an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the continued outages, and officials said they hope to have all power restored within one week to essential services such as hospitals, police, fire and water systems.
Much of the heaviest damage was to Entergy, which officials said suffered "catastrophic damage."
About 248,000 Entergy customers remained without power Tuesday, and the company announced that it will begin rolling blackouts for 142,000 customers in Montgomery, Walker, Grimes and Liberty counties as part of the restoration effort. Customers who provide public safety or public health services should not be affected.
"Individual customers may experience multiple outages," according to company correspondence. "Unfortunately, we cannot predict which neighborhoods will be affected in specific times."
TXU Electric Delivery announced Tuesday that power had been restored to virtually all of Tyler and Palestine and that all of its East Texas customers should have service by Friday.
Local officials, however, said they were not getting the help they needed.
In Port Arthur, local businesses were supplying food, water and sometimes fuel for at least 150 people working in the town, including National Guardsmen.
Down the road from the makeshift command center at the Holiday Inn, a line stretches for almost two miles for a local gas station.
Fitzgibbons, the city manager, said workers had received little help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency beyond a few trucks of diesel fuel.
Thompson, the Polk County judge, said the federal government wasn't doing enough to restore essential services.
On Monday, he said, three military helicopters were scheduled to deliver shipments of food and water. The first helicopter arrived six hours late, he said.
"They had a television camera crew and a still photographer with them," Thompson said. "When they finished unloading and left, I got word that the other two helicopters were canceled.
"That's when I knew we had been had. They got their press and left."
Local workers continued to toil virtually around the clock, however, to clear debris, maintain order and restore services.
In tiny Mauriceville in Orange County, the Sheriff's Department and much of county government had taken up residence in an elementary school because of extensive damage to the courthouse and jail.
The deputies slept in the library, under a Snoopy banner, and the dispatchers were working in a kindergarten class.
And local residents were already pressing to return home.
At a checkpoint leading into Port Arthur, about 30 cars sat in line Tuesday morning only to be turned away by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.
Some simply pulled over to wait.
"I'll sleep in the Jeep if I have to," said Corey Davis, 34, who had tried to return from Louisiana with his wife, Tamisha, 21, and their two young children.
The family had little gas and no place else to go.
In Orange County, where most areas seemed deserted Tuesday, residents were allowed to return, but no one was encouraging them to stay. The only power came from generators.
"We understand totally that people want to check on their houses, but the city cannot support them if they stay," Kreger said.
"Our priority is to get on these water, sewer and power problems, but having people here compounds the problems."
IN THE KNOW
Rita knocked out power to as many as 1.2 million Texas electric customers, although by Tuesday, that number was down to 471,000, a spokesman for the state's Public Utility Commission.
Beaumont-based Entergy was apparently the hardest hit, with 248,000 customers without power as of Tuesday.
Other companies affected and the number of customers still without power Tuesday were: Houston's Centerpoint, 92,000; TXU, 27,000; the Sam Houston Electrical Co-op in Hardin County, 54,000; and the Deep East Electric Co-Op, 20,000.
Several other electrical cooperatives each reported fewer than 1,000 customers without power.
Distributed by the Associated Press
