ALTUS — The entire state of Oklahoma was warned earlier last week that a storm off the California coast was expected to reach the state by Wednesday. As the area enjoyed an unseasonably warm day Wednesday, wearing shorts and T-shirts and taking walks in the bright sunshine, a icy-cold mess of a storm was moving its way in.

Gov. Brad Henry warned Oklahomans that, "This storm could carry quite a punch," and urged residents to stock up on provisions and heed travel warnings. "We are preparing for the worst."

A Christmas Eve blizzard dumped 14 inches of snow on parts of the state, closing major highways and turnpikes as well as Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. Dozens of motorists became stranded on snowbound highways when their vehicles became stuck in piles of snow.

Henry said he didn’t want that to happen again during this storm and urged Oklahomans to beware of travel conditions and take no unnecessary risks.

Some forecasters were comparing this storm to to the ice storm of 2007 that knocked out power to 650,000 electrical customers across the state. In total, this storm has said to have knocked out power to more than 150,000 homes and businesses and stranded travelers across Oklahoma.

People who have been without power since this past Thursday, and those who didn’t take the weather warnings seriously have been scrambling for emergency generators, bottled water and other supplies.

After the storm hit Thursday coating everything, including power lines, with heavy ice, lines started snapping and power to homes, businesses and everything in Southwest Oklahoma flickered out.

Crews with all power providers, as well as City crews, have been working non-stop to try and restore power as quickly as possible, but the amount of snapped lines, poles and other problems have been unsurmountable.

It’s not just been poles, but massive towers that hold power lines that have been pulled down by the ice.

There are two main lines that feed electricity into Altus, one through Hobart and the other through Snyder. Both supplies were damaged in the ice storm that weighed down power lines and poles to to the point they snapped.

Officials with PSO were out examining the damage on Friday trying to decide which line to work on first to get power on the fastest for their customers. By Saturday, they thought power might reach Altus by that night. But that didn’t happen. Due to more and more unforeseen problems as work continued, the estimated time that power could reach Altus from the east was 8:30 p.m. Monday. But that didn’t happen either.

City officials announced Monday evening that as temperatures warmed, and ice melted, poles that bent with the weight of the ice were ‘snapping back’ and breaking, further delaying restoration of electrical service.

Citizens of Altus were told later Monday night that power should reach Altus sometime this afternoon, but that just meant it was to Altus, not that power would be restored to everyone this afternoon.

The City’s Public Information Officer, Matt Coppock, said that it could be 48 to 72 hours before all Altus residents had power restored to their homes.

To ensure that power gets back to customers a soon as possible, Altus City crews have been out working non-stop to make sure lines are connections are ready to receive power.

When power is restored to Altus, the hospital will be the first to receive power, followed by emergency and essential businesses, nursing homes, and then to residences.

Some businesses have been operating with generators from day-one of the black out. United Supermarket has been open since the first day of the storm, but saw lines to the back of the store as people rushed to purchase supplies to get them through the outage. Next came the need for gasoline to power vehicles and generators. Although Murphy’s USA in front of Wal-Mart had announced that they had a generator on the way, the truck carrying it overturned into a ditch, delaying the start of fuel service for several hours. Some businesses, like Walgreens, opened their doors to customers and used calculators to do business without power.

By Monday, several businesses were using generators to accommodate their customers’ needs including restaurants and banks.