ICE STORM

gregrn43 · 02-03-2009, 06:43 PM

Well this is the first time that I have been on here in a week. We had a ice storm from hell. Two inches of ice on trees and power lines. It turned this area upside down. Power lines, poles and trees down everywhere. They finally got the hospital powered up today so thats why I am on here. There telling me another 4 weeks before I have power at my house. I'm running my house on a generator,costing me a small fortune in gas. In my county there saying that there is 15,000 poles down. Trees are down everywhere, on top of houses, acrossroads, unbeliveable. My buddyis a lineman for entergy (which is a large power company in arkansas and texas) he says that there power grid has as much damage aroundhere asNewOrleans had after Katrina, but there is not as much home damage as they had. I sure will be glad when things getback to normal.

Semisane · 02-03-2009, 06:53 PM

Man, I feel for you guys Greg. I saw a convoy of Entergy trucks heading up your way on I-55 this evening. Those poor guys are going to have a rough tour working in those conditions. Be careful with that generator.

gregrn43 · 02-03-2009, 06:58 PM

Those fellers working are having to stay in school gyms on cots. No its not good conditions for them. They have a big catering company fromyour state to serve them meals. My generator is fine I pulled my meter and isolated my lines runing into my house so it wouldnt feed back through the power lines.

cayugad · 02-03-2009, 07:02 PM

I hope they can get you back up and running ASAP. These storms our nation have been facing last year and now this year have really tested the resolve of our country. My heart goes out to those without the every day comforts that I often take for granted.

Be careful with the indoor heaters, remember if they are not vented, they eat your oxygen up inside the home. The bigger the heater the faster they take the oxygen. Also I saw a house in Kentucky today on the news on fire. They were cooking on a gas grill in the car port and set the house on fire. Seems they had no power, so that was the only way they could cook.

I know I might complain about my weather with the snow and cold, but I will take snow any day over ice storms. And cold.. more wood in the stove usually takes care of that.

gregrn43 · 02-03-2009, 07:08 PM

My house is all electric except for my gas furnace, but it takes electric to run it. I bought a 7000 watt generator, now I can run everything just cant run it all at one time.

Semisane · 02-03-2009, 07:17 PM

Lots of folks around here have generators for Hurricane related power outages and do OK for the usualtwo or three day loss of power after a storm. The big ones are something else. The problem after Katrina was even if you had a generator you were out of luck unless you had a pretty big stockpile of fuel. The emergency services people commandeered all of the fuel reserves on sight for emergency vehicles and generators. You couldn't get gasoline in this area for several weeks after the big K.

Breechplug · 02-03-2009, 07:20 PM

God Bless all you guy's and hope things are back to normal real quick. We heat with a wood stove, have a generator for backup power, and also have a second (hand pump well) with spring water, so if something bad happens were always ready.We have had our fair share of Ice Storms here so I know what your going through. Best of luck to you's! Also watch out for falling branches!!!!!!!!! That storm was suppos-to hit us, but it went up the East Coast. We were looking at 2 feet+ of new snow, glad it missed us.

muzzlenut · 02-03-2009, 07:26 PM

Good luck getting back to normal. It will happen eventually We had a severe ice storm in Kansas a couple years ago. I literally had 6" of solid ice on my yard that lasted from Dec 31 2006 to mid March 2007. I had to remove ice from my sidewalk and my neighbors sidewalks with a pick axe. We had some of the huge steel electric towers that folded like tin foil under the weight. Took everything out of the freezer and put it in rubbermaid containers on the porch since the electricity was out. We made it through without much being said. FEMA didn't show up and nobody blamed the president for the weather (ie, Katrina). We just helped each other out and made sure we all had the things we needed and did without wants for a while. It is kind of a humbling experience. The good news is that if you can get out at all, your rifles will not be affected by the ice. Might as well make the best out of it.

BTW, I made a pretty good ground blind out of some poles I got from our power company and got some new hunting ground because I beat the bushes and offered to help people out when and where I could.

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." John 14:18

gregrn43 · 02-03-2009, 07:26 PM

At first we had problems getting gas, but the quick shops brought in generators and it wasnt a problem. They got some of town turned on today, I live outside town so its gonna be a long time for me. Some crooks are stealing chainsaws and generators around here now. The county judge told me someone had theres running and these theives started their push lawnmower and set it beside there generator, after a bit they noticed there house getting colder and went out side to check on it and there set their mower and generator was gone. There are some really great folks living in this country, thats for sure.

MountainDevil54 · 02-03-2009, 08:25 PM

sorry to hear the bad news.

Maybe after this is all over and this coming spring/summer you should take a look at installing a wood burning stove in one of the rooms. Maybe even some solar to run a few lights in the house to make things a little easier. Always have to have a back up plan!