Worst Winter Storm in 20+ years!

I just wanted to update everyone on what's happening in Louisville. Thousands of people in Louisville, KY are without power. Our electricity has continued to flicker on and off since yesterday, but thankfully, we still have power.

We could hear branches snapping and falling off all night. Around 4 a.m. after hearing a loud boom, my husband and I walked outside and saw a huge branch had fallen on our car. It's too big for us to get off by ourselves. Our apartment complex will help us get it off when the danger passes. Right now big branches keep snapping and falling, and it's too dangerous for people to be out there under the trees to try to remove it.

While I'm not happy that our car is covered with that huge branch, we're safe and sound and that's the most important thing. Plus our insurance will cover this so that's good.

I know we have a lot of be thankful for. My heart goes out to all those people without power and who are stranded on the roads. Be safe everyone.

Lost my connection for a couple of hours this morning, thankfully again, I never lost power last night. And the sun is out here in NWA.
Now if I can thaw my truck out, that would be another miracle.

For the people posting about how this storm isn't all that bad, I hope to have some video up on youtube in the next day or two.
Here in Fayetteville, Arkansas we experienced a category 5 ice storm.
That is as severe as the ranking gets. Major catastrophe. I drove back to my house today and had to cross several downed power lines and many, many trees blocking the road. It looks like a war-zone. (thankfully the power has been cut off to many places around here or those wires would have been live)
It is something of a miracle that we still have power where I am now. Although it goes in and out.

At my house, every tree in my yard is splintered and laying all about the place. I couldn't even pull into my driveway. Limbs were still falling about the house as I was getting more clothes and stuff. Still very dangerous outside. Be safe, everyone.
I'll try to go catch some video and put it up later today.

As for power, I won't have any at my house for quite some time. The falling trees ripped the service line out of the wall and I'm going to have to move all of the trees out of the yard before we can get an electrician to come and repair it. I'll check back in in a little bit.

I was thinking about all of you folks last night, some without power and I'm sure some shivering without heat.
I remember clearly the eerie cracking coming from all around when we went through that kind of thing a couple years ago in CO.
pic of my area then

Hang in there

reply to post by Greenize



There have been bad ice storms across the country over the last 4 years of so. Its global warming.

Alright guys, I hope everyone is staying safe out there.

Here is the video I shot this morning. Poor quality, but I wanted it all on there.
www.youtube.com...

This is HORRIBLE in our area. I hope the rest of the folks here in NWA are doing alright. Well, I hope *everyone* is alright, but I can't speak for the severity elsewhere. I'm sure it is bad east of here also. Be safe, folks.

We've got A LOT of work to do here.

Jay, over here on the eastern side of the state, I'm not sure what the category was, but streets were literaly bulldozed to get them cleared for traffic. Every business in town was closed because of lack of power, including Walmart, because their generator went down.
They won't even give us a time line on when power will be restored. Hoping to get it back tomorrow, but not holding my breath. My city will lose a lot of trees over this.

WOOT!!! I'm BACK!

I lost power Tuesday night at 6:30 and it just came back on. The last 48 hours have been something else. The weather folks are saying it's the worst ice storm ever recorded for these parts.

I'll post some pics later but I have some catching up to do right now.

Damn it's good to have electricity!

You all have my sympathy. I was raised in Wisconsin and did experience some of that. NO not as bad as you are having.

In Florida now, and am getting to think that maybe our hurricanes are not so bad after all. At least when the power goes out we do not freeze.

Look at the bright side....If it wasn't for global warming it could be a lot worse.

This is what I woke to on Wednesday morning. First up is the heater to the building I live in:





And then we can look at the roads as I walked them:






















I just went out driving for the first time and I had to zig and zag around trees the whole way. Street crews are out in force but it's still going to take days to clean this mess up. They're saying it's the worst ice storm to ever hit this neck of the woods and i believe them. I've never seen anything like it.

.

[edit on 29-1-2009 by mrwupy]

Glad you guys are ok and the power's back on. Let's hear from the rest of you.

Mr.Wupy if you have a chainsaw and a truckbed, you could be set for the next couple of winters with firewood.

Glad to hear everyone checking in, we do care about eachother. This is the worst possible scenario for people to endure, however it is a good wakeup call to know just exactly what your priorities will be in the coming times.

Be sure and check on your neighbors, those who are elderly, have children or are handicaped, dont assume others are doing so.

As for global warming, this is what happens when the artic snows melt in record numbers and then mix with the warmer gulfstream, so please do not assume that this is the storm of the century, it is more likely going to be the typical storms of this century.

I've just been on the phone with my parents who live in Muhlenberg County, KY, and it's pretty bad there. What's worse is that the only updates thery're receiving on the situation are coming from me (and I'm in Australia), and word of mouth from neighbors.

The power went off there around 5am Tuesday morning and hasn't been on since. They've tried getting updates from KU (Kentucky Utilities), but KU have no one assisting with customer service as evidently and hopefully all available staff are trying to fix the dire situation. I've heard however it may be up to 2 weeks before power is restored. It's now officially the largest power outage on record for the state.

www.wbko.com...#

So they have no power which means no TV, no internet, etc. Their cell phones don't even work - I suppose because the towers are iced over. The one thing they do have is a landline. They also have an 8000w generator (the 7 gallon tank provides 8 hours of energy). They've had to be choosy about when to operated it, and what to send power to.

There is absolutely no gas available in the county (according to my sources), the nearest places with power are nearly 1 hour's drive away: Elkton, Morgantown, and Beaver Dam. My dad made a gas run with another man from town and brought back all they could, but in doing so they used up quite a bit in the car. Right now, in their house it's about 45 degrees, so they're opting to run the generator primarily at night.

Earlier today they drove down to the supply store to get a few essentials, and they weren't letting anyone in (since the power was off). Workers were standing outside, taking requests, and then going in with flashlights to find the goods. i'm not sure if it was cash only or what the situation was - I didn't ask.

People aren't panicking from what I gather, though they know the situation is quite serious. According to one news source in Indiana, shelters have been set up, and the Red Cross and National Guard are handling cleanup and provisions, but oddly enough my parents haven't seen either in the area.

I've only found one other discussion so far online about Greenville. Since there's no power there, basically only concerned outsiders are participating:

www.topix.com...

Here are a few new stories I found mentioning the area:

www.14wfie.com...

www.14wfie.com...

Submitted photos from Western KY:

wbko.mycapture.com...

Originally posted by Evasius
Right now, in their house it's about 45 degrees, so they're opting to run the generator primarily at night.

Wrong move, tell them not to do that.

At night was when I was warmest. I crawled under sheets and blankets and comforters and was quite warm, hell I even got hot. Being in bed is really quite toasty regardless of how cold it is out side.

Use the energy in the day when they are up and about and need the heat.

reply to post by mrwupy


Thanks for the advice. I just called again - they said they run it for about 3 hours at a time, and not all night. The last time is about 8 or 9pm and then they turn it on again for another 3 hours around sunrise. I told them to use it sparingly, which I'm sure thy will, especially if this drags on for much longer.

They called my uncle who is a volunteer fireman, and he said it could take 2-3 weeks to get things working again. Other people are preparing to dig in for maybe up to a month.

I asked if they had plans B or C, they may eventually get a hotel or travel to relatives in TN. A few people they spoke to at the store were worried about looters if it gets worse. They're concerned about people scouting for houses with working generators and other lucrative items. As a result, my parents and others are gearing up to defend themselves in the meantime if necessary...it's not looking good.

Here's another update, but this time on what's happening elsewhere in Kentucky.

According to John Belski, a meteorologist from WAVE 3,

"Grayson Co. has no grocery stores open. A number of areas south of Louisville beside having no power, now have no water. An emergency situation down that way."

Here's the link where you can find this information.

I wonder which cities have no power and no water? And I wonder if FEMA and/or the Red Cross is there to help those people? I did learn from an article in the Grayson County News-Gazette that there's a temporary emergency shelter set up, but from what the article said, if the temperatures drop much more, they're going to have difficulty helping everyone.

I've been reading that people across the state may be without power for up to 2 weeks. And if that's not bad enough, apparently there's a possibility that we could an even worse winter storm with near blizzard conditions this coming Monday, Feb. 2nd.

I got this information here under the heading "Thursday late evening 1/29.

I was reading a thread by a previous poster than some towns don't even have gasoline, and that, in addition to all the downed power lines and trees in the road, making getting out of town to safety very, very difficult.

Has anyone heard if FEMA is doing anything to help these people? I've been searching online and can't find anything.

The people need help and fast. And if the state of Kentucky does get hit with near blizzard conditions on Monday, that's going to make everything worse. I feel so bad for everyone. They need food, water, and heat. Where's FEMA?

Thank you cornblossom for the above update, I appreciate it.

How are all the affected people that posted earlier doing anyway? I'm sure you're busy cleaning up, but personal accounts of what you went through and what's happening now might put my mind at ease (as well as others concerned for loved ones) ...I just hope you have electricity so you can log on.

Otherwise, where did the interest go in this?

Did you know FEMA has shown a pitiful response so far (if any)?

Did you know the National Guard & Red Cross have been so far minimally involved in cleanup & rescue efforts?

Why is MSM for the most part ignoring the people affected? Don't get me wrong, I've read a few stories about what's happening, but I thought by now I would be seeing footage of trucks rolling up with supplies, people being evacuated from the area, and so on. 2-3 weeks without power for many people will be a death sentence. Some people say it could be up to a month.

Is this to become eventually known as "Katrina 2"?

How many people will have to die for rescue efforts to be ramped up?

Landlines have now been severed so I have no communication with my family whatsoever. My Grandmother is in a rest home that was getting a generator replaced (that was the last I heard yesterday). But fuel is dwindling in Kentucky, so what good is a generator anyway?

I've called family that live outside of the affected area, but they obviously can't get through either. I'm in Australia so I might as well be on the moon. No specific information of any value is given by officials, and everyone I've called seems as clueless as I am.

Any and all updates will be appreciated. But please no responses of "oh calm down, help's on the way," I prefer proof.

After Katrina, I honestly don't trust the government to show the initiative or take responsibility for anything.

Here's an index of CNN videos showing the situation - the locals and volunteers are freakin' champions. The government? Not so good.

edition.cnn.com...

Other stories I scrounged up:

Life after ice storm dire, getting worse in spots

State and federal help being criticized

Storm-battered Kentuckians head to Tenn. for gas

And here's the only news story I could find outlining the situation where I'm from:

Muhlenberg Co. may go weeks without power

...accompanying story here:

www.14wfie.com...

[edit on 31/1/09 by Evasius]

Here is NC we havent had an ice storm in s few years. Use to have them a lot it seemed. I can remember sitting in my house and hearing the trees cracking and the house shake when they hit the ground. YOu just sort of draw your self up and hope its falling the other direction..lol Take care guys!!