As thousands of area residents remain without power, emergency officials are conducting house-to-house searches to make sure those residents are safe.

Officials are still searching homes in some area counties, but so far no significant problems have been reported, said Gary Fancher, region manager for Kentucky Division of Emergency Management.

“So far, we’ve been in good shape,” he said. “Basically it’s just to make sure we don’t have any residents out there without electricity and heat experiencing any kind of problems.”

Officials finished searching Warren County homes Sunday; those who decided to stay home during the power outage were safe and secure, said Andy Tucker, Warren County Rescue Department chief.

“Everybody was OK; there was nothing unusual,” he said. “I thought we would have more needs than we did.”

About 11,500 regional residents are still without power, according to Rick Carroll, director of programs and communications for Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corp.

Progress has been made - about 14,000 homes were powerless Sunday and more than 40,000 were without power at the height of the crisis. Still, “you can make a lot of progress until you get to a certain point,” he said.

Some counties - particularly Ohio, Butler, Grayson and Edmonson - will be without power indefinitely. Crews will have to construct new poles and power lines after old power lines buckled under the weight of the ice. Officials initially thought 400 to 500 poles had been broken, but a recent count showed about 1,000 electric poles have been lost, Carroll said.

The problem lies now in debris that is blocking access to those downed power lines. Crews must cut through trees and other rubble to get to the lines, Carroll said.

“It is just going to take a long time. I would compare it to when we started lines in the late ’30s; this is just total new construction,” he said. “With the exception of homes being destroyed, it looks like a tornado went through there. It’s the worse we’ve ever experienced.”

More than 200 contractors are on site helping WRECC officials; additional crews from Tennessee and Virginia are expected to arrive today.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also provided assistance. FEMA has delivered equipment and commodities and delivered technical and communication support since the storm.

Statewide, 93 counties and 71 cities have declared emergencies with more than 362,000 customers without electricity and 178,000 without water. Nearly 3,600 residents are staying in 138 shelters across the state.

The Morgantown American Red Cross shelter closed today; people should seek shelter in Edmonson and Ohio counties. Those looking to volunteer should contact the Red Cross office at 781-7377.

Also, the Western Kentucky University Radcliff campus was closed today due to a lack of electricity.

Gov. Steve Beshear will ask President Barack Obama today to quicken federal assistance for state emergency work, expected to surpass $45 million.

In Warren County, the situation is “almost back to normal,” said Ronnie Pearson, Warren County Emergency Management director.

Power has been restored to residents in Warren County and Bowling Green, and the local emergency management office is assisting workers in surrounding counties, Pearson said.

During the home search, crews found one house that was completely surrounded by water in Richardsville. The house was not flooded; it had about 400 feet of dry area, Tucker said.

“It was deep enough that you would have to put a boat in it to get to the other side,” he said.

Still, the family is safe and has been living at home, he said.

“They had lived out there for so long, they’ve gotten accustomed to water coming up to that level,” Tucker said. “They had a canoe ready so that they could go across.”

In Logan County, about 30 percent of residents are still without electricity, Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick said.

“We’re looking to have that restored in a few days,” he said. “(Residents) seem to be weathering it out pretty good.”

Warren County Rescue Department members Robert King (left) and Chief Andy Tucker cross high water Sunday off Youngs Ferry Road while checking on residents affected by last week’s winter storm.

Rescue personnel talk with Evelyn Price, who lives off Galloways Mill Road in Warren County. Workers were checking on residents who were without electricity.

A.J. Rees (from left) and Chief Andy Tucker, of the Warren County Rescue Department, check on Alfred Barrow who lives on Galloways Mill Road on Sunday. Warren County on a directive from the the Kentucky division of emergency management did a check welfare