With power still out in parts of south Tulsa, some residents wonder if there's an advantage to below-ground power lines and if service is restored faster. But, a PSO officials say not so fast.
Thursday's storms knocked out power for nearly 190,000 Oklahomans.
That's the night that the lights went out in Tulsa and Friday thousands are still in the dark.
"We've been reading by camp light, I've gotten really familiar with a lot of poetry," Tulsa resident Callie Grein said.
Crews are working feverishly to get poles replanted, lines re-wired and electricity restore.
"It may be as late as Monday afternoon before the final customers are restored," PSO spokesperson Stan Whiteford said.
In 2007, an ice storm hit Tulsa and caused power to be out for hours and for some, even days. This prompted discussion from city officials about burying the lines.
"I was looking at the above ground power lines and they were just starting to drip with ice and getting lower and lower and we were so worried," Grein said. "We could hear popping and cracking of the trees and whatever and I was like, 'Oh this is all going south.'"
Grein is in a new house with buried lines. But it's the same story, she's in the dark, currently powerless.
"It just seems like because we live here, there needs to be more of an emergency plan," she said.
But PSO officials say moving above ground lines to below ground isn't an option.
That's not going to happen because that is just too expensive and you don't get the benefit for doing all that," Whiteford said.
Light will reach these homes eventually, but many south Tulsans and folks across Green Country are still living by candlelight in this storm's aftermath.
