Ice Storm

Excuse me while I whine a bit.

We've just had one of the worst ice storms in local history here in Southwest Missouri. We haven't had electricity since 4am Friday morning. We are running everything electric from a generator. I had to drive 100 miles to purchase this one. They are out of them every where around here. We have to choose which appliance we want to run. Fridge for a while. TV for a while. Computer for a while. It's supposed to get down to 7 deg F tonight and 3 deg F by tomorrow night. They say it could be anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks before we get electricty again. We have a private well and without electricity, we have no water. At least we have heat from the fireplace. Oh well, I guess this is the way the pioneers used to submit a message to a forum on the frontier. The worst part of it is that we can see homes with electricity a mile away. But they say we are on a different grid. just my luck. well......thanks for listening to my pathetic problems. I know there are people that are worse off than I am even under these conditions. I guess I should count my blessings. Wish us luck.

I feel for you. I had a similar situation back in 1997 in Astoria Oregon where we had an ice storm. The power was out for a week with no heat - it really sucks!
Life takes on a whole new meaning and for the most part your helpless.
Hope you get your power on soon!

Man that really sucks. I can relate though. When I lived in Kentucky I lost electricity for two weeks. No heat and with electric stove no cooking either. The food did'nt go bad because we just put it outside. and with the roads too bad to drive I had to walk to the nearest convienience store for stuff that I could eat without cooking. It was a rough two weeks but it did give me some gratitude for the things that I did have.
Keep warm and count your blessings. Things could be MUCH worse!

I work for the electric co. in Texas and we sent crews up in the area starting last Saturday and more are on the way today, not much we can do till the ice quits falling because the lines that were picked up some have falling back down. They were told to be ready for a 2 week stay plus there will be 40/50 contract crews up there from our area with probably 100 tree crews to clear things up. It will be a SLOW process because one bad move and safety could be compromised. Just keep in contact with your friends in the area to see who gets power first and bum a shower and stuff from them. Even as an employee it took 8 days for me (Christmas day 2000) to get my lights on because of the damage to my line.

It's the first freeze of the season tonight for most of Houston (although it won't freeze here on the immediate coast), along with a steady drizzling rain they say might eventually lead to sleet or just freeze on the roads. They're already canceling schools and closing some parts of highways. I'm hoping they'll cancel work tomorrow or the next day. Funny huh...what might be considered a break in the weather to ya'll almost shuts us down.

I was watching the news yesterday about the ice storm and all the damage its doing. At least you do have some electricity though. The news said that the storm is heading my way, but I think its only going to be a little snow. Hang in there bud.

That really sucks.. I've been there as well, and we live on a private well and septic as well.. and yes it really sucks when you can't even flush your toilet when the power goes out.

When we had the hurricane up here and lost our power for two weeks, I had an electrician fix my breaker panel so I could just flip a switch and plug in the generator and it would run the whole house... except for the clothes dryer and my oven...

One thing i noticed about that whole ordeal, it certainly brought the community together, and it was fun doing stuff that didn't require electricity for awhile. It really made you appreciate what we do have, and how quickly things can be taken away.

Hopefully you will get power soon.... Take care.

Yeah, I can relate too. Every time there's a storm in this area the power goes out.
As soon as I hear thunder I start getting the candles out and unplugging things.

We don't have a power problem, but whenever we get a strong gust of wind the phones go out. Last weekend was incredibly cold though. So cold that my girlfriend from Sask. couldn't get down. :mad: Apparently a bunch of people died in their cars over there though.

That sucks dude :( hang on in there, i feel for ya.

heh heh, n00bs, its been in the 70's here in virginia all of last week. :D

forreal, I really dont think we're going to get any snow or even cold weather at all this year.

That sucks. I'm in Michigan and we had sort of an ice storm but not as bad. The trees look cool though

I was unable to upload the picture I took, but I assure you they look cool

I was in Ottawa during the ice storm in '98. Two things I remember about those nights: the horrible CRACK followed by a groaning, tearing noise as the trees broke and collapsed under the weight of the ice. And the flickering blue-green glow as transformers in the neighborhood shorted out from the surges on the lines. I still have pictures of the main distribution lines where the towers all got pulled down by the weight on the cables.

My power was only out for a day. With electric heat, it got pretty cold. My parents in Kingston had to wait for two weeks. The little fireplace in their house wasn't a whole lot of help.

I hope you come out of this OK. Drain your water pipes so they won't freeze up and burst. Move into the basement, if you have one. The walls below ground will actually lose less heat than the rest of the house. If your phone works, keep in regular contact with someone who can contact help for you if you don't call at the agreed time. Hang in there.

years ago an ice storm hit here....a neighbor 2 blocks from me went to get smokes and his wife was at home, the tree on the hill behind the house was a huge old fir. it went through condo two stories and to the garage on third and lowest level. she was on the top floor. she was killed. he was saved by cigarettes :rolleyes: true story.

>Some< days, the best thing to do is just stay at home and wait it out....

Originally Posted by: Lordathestrings>Some< days, the best thing to do is just stay at home and wait it out....

that's how they drive in Portland without ice....

Thanks everyone.....Still on generator power but we're managing it. The kids think it 's adventerous. They say we may get electric by Monday. OK I have to unplug the computer now and plug up the fridge.

I still get that adventurous feeling when the power goes out.
...actually there's a second of $%#%# argh my computer didn't save!!... then a couple of minutes of $%#^ argh..where's that friggin flashlight...
Then the adventure kinda kicks in. It breaks up the day cause I know two things fer sure. I don't have to work and I can eat cold beans.
We always used to eat cold beans when the power went out in England when we were kids, so it kinda became a ritual.. whenever the power goes out now, I shout ... GET OUT THE BEANS!!

"Get out the beans." ....I never heard anyone say that when I lived in England, But I thaink I'm going to make it my new favorite quote.

THE ELECTRIC JUST CAME ON!!

I can't believe how much stress that just left when the lights came on.
Just thought I'd let everyone know.

Good on yer! :D

Keep the Jenny ready for a while, just in case. The grid is usually kinda fragile for a few days after an event like this.