Officials: 'prepare for days of power outages' Atlanta metro area

reply to post by Libertygal


Note to self, avoid that intersection on my next get away.

hillbilly4rent
reply to post by Libertygal

 

Note to self, avoid that intersection on my next get away.

Lol, it would be the whole area. Every light, every town, from Gwinnet County to Athens, has those cams now. All the red light tickets cams actually, came down. Not sure why, lots of gritching, complaints, etc. Then, we got new red lights. I was thinking hmm. Fancy red lights, look at that.

No really. Then, I saw the cams. Then, I saw them at every intersection, every direction. Wow.

Yeah, no escaping the escape route here. Lol. Best to find a back way out, if ya gots to go. Every major and minor road is basically covered now.

They say it's for Amber Alerts. Uh huh.

Snowing again, seems to he coming down pretty good. Guess this is wave two.

Hey y'all,
Well sir, we've had sleet/freezing rain coming down since noon; it's now almost 3pm EST and has just now let up a bit. Local news sez it's gonna keep coming for another couple of hours. I'm about 50 miles due south of Charlotte, in the sticks.

Before that, from 7am-noon, it was snow coming down thick, fluffy and fast. Even had reports of thunder snow!

I've already had to shovel front and back stoop (+/- 4") in order to get screen door open to let dog out to do her biz. (No awning over stoop) That was at noon; already it's covered in 1" sleet that looks like snow, (until you try to walk on it-crunchy!) My other half estimates we've gotten about 7" everything altogether since yesterday.

Talked to buds down in Florence and Sumter co.: they've had nothing but sleet/freezing rain, with enough around noon time to look like snow covering the yard and broad leaf trees like magnolias and hollies, but it was all ice, and still coming down...scary. Ravenell Bridge in Charleston is closed due to ice; trees down in Augusta and Orangeburg...and so it begins....

I still have power for now, but I've been busy prepping-
Dishes washed; work clothes and tightie-whities and socks washed; nice hot shower and lunch; all done while I still have power in case I don't have any for 5 or so days!!!

I'll keep fingers crossed about the power, but we're on Dukey Power and they'll cut the juice in a heartbeat once trees start going down around here. And since we're in the sticks and downstream from the big dogs in Charlotte and our local town, we're usually low man on the totem pole when getting power back. When I was on the york co co-op they had lots better service when storms hit; usually back on with a day--not a week.

Question: If you're on county water, do they usually have power back-up if power goes out to keep water service available?

I know when I was on well water, no power=no water b/c there was no power for the pump; but I'm not sure what to expect with county water. Any one have any experience or expertise?

Thanks

reply to post by Libertygal


I've worked and traveled a lot in that area. Its a drug smuggling and human trafficking hub from what I've been told. My first boarder patrol check point encounter was in gwanett county.

reply to post by SCGrits


I would hope so, I remember back in the 90's north Georgia had hurricane opal. Power was out for 5 days and in that time our city water ran out.

Well sir, they've started closing the interstates around Charlotte now. I 277, the inner loop around dwntn is closed; part of 485 and 77 are closed; part of I 40 near Statesville closed. Yikes! link
This pic from ch 9 looks to be part of 277, the inner loop.

The malls have all officially closed (rolls eyes!!) Trafiic on Independence (hwy 74) is at a standstill. My question is why is there anyone on it in the first place --- It's snow/ice storm people---duh.Not sure where or what time this pic is - think it's 74 coming from dwntwn

reply to post by hillbilly4rent

Thanks. I'll fill up the tub for toilet flush (on septic) if we lose power, just in case.

I love how all the people who live in the North talk smack about how us Southerners are idiots because we get locked down over a little snow. Well I saw a tweet today that explained it perfectly.

You Northerners take it easy on us Southerners....Snow is really really rare down here just like BCS National Championships are rare up there......

BOOM

Well, first night went as expcted. Was exhausted, but only had two admissions. Found out they are paying me 8.00 an hour to sleep. That makes it ok. Lol. Also, got a free meal ticket.

Daylight came, and had to de-ice my car. My clothes were all in bags in the trunk, right? Yeah. Sealed in by about 3 inches of ice with an inch plus of soft, fluffy snow on top!

Had to heat up the car enough to break through the ice barrier, then pick at it enough to open a spot. It started coming off then, in huge chunks!

The snow plows, not the little guy in the pic from earlier, but the county guys, came through about every half hour last night on the main road, keeping it open for ambulances and emergency vehicles.

Last burst of snow is here now, they say another 1/2 to 1 full inch more on top of everything else, before temps creep up to 41. Possibility of rain tonight, with temps dropping to 27 again tonight. Probably lower where I am, outside the city, temps are usually a few degrees cooler here at work, and even lower at home.

Hubby still has power at home. We have underground utilities inside the neighborhood, but above ground outside the neighborhood. They do keep the trees well trimmed in our area.

So, so far so good. Need to go snag a place to sleep, and decide when to get up and fight about 10-12 folks for the shower. Lol.

I just keep reminding myself, 8.00 an hour to sleep. I can do this!

reply to post by hillbilly4rent


Things went well, so far here in Walton county. Not nearly as much ice as predicted, a couple inches of snow through the night, and only lost power for about 1.5 hours this morning. Now, the sun is peeking through, temps are above freezing, and things are melting.

Hi y'all
Day 3 of #snOMG and it's STILL snowing!!!!

Haven't lost power, but peeps in Sumter/Florence were beginning to have intermittent power outages and total loss of land lines (phone).

Libertygal:

had to de-ice my car. My clothes were all in bags in the trunk, right? Yeah. Sealed in by about 3 inches of ice with an inch plus of soft, fluffy snow on top!

I feel your pain girl!

Note to self: when clearing the stoop of snow, remember to go around and clear the snow drift and ice blocking the fins to the air handler on the heat pump!!!! Next time see if I can find some sort of de-icer to spray on fins.

If that's the most of my issues I'm a happy camper!!! Two bldgs have collapsed, one Roof collapses at Charlotte church, the other Gastonia building collapse ; also heard that a historic DAR bldg in Atlanta collapsed.

Church in CharlotteMetal bldg in GastoniaFront facade of DAR bldgRear view DAR bldg

reply to post by Liquesence

Love your pics, esp the deer!

I'll trade you that deer for a bunch of rabbits and 3 blue jays!!

My suet feeders outside have been like grand central station at rush hour, with 3 new resident bullies - blue jays, (not to be confused with blue birds, which I dearly luv!), that bully their way past the little chicadees and tufted titmouses and wrens. Some have even called them the original "angry birds"! The cardinals and even the woodpeckers, even tho they're bigger, are polite and wait their turn, unlike blue jays.

I've been here over 5 years and this is the 1st year I've seen blue jays on this property. At least I haven't seen mocking birds yet. Peeps in Sumter have lots of them and in the spring when the luv fever hits they'll sit on top of the light pole and sing ALL night long. Yes, I said night-poor things are so luv struck they forget birds are supposed to sleep at night!!!!

Seems I'm not the only one who has problems with Bullies at the Bird Feeder Blue jay blue bird

Guess I'll have to round up some wire and jay-proof the feeders.

reply to post by SCGrits


Thanks!

In times like these, gotta keep the birds and deer fed too. Normally there are about a dozen deer out there, because I put corn out. Like you, i had and still have a madhouse at the feeders. Luckily, i rarely get blue jays (but those squirrels always seem to find a way). When snow covers the ground, I just spread seed wherever I can for the birds. They sure appreciate it.

The birds that get on my nerves are cowbirds. They take over everything, even if their song is beautiful.

And hearing the lonely mocks singing in the dead of night during the summer is so beautiful and so sad.

Welp, got my get out jail free card just before midnight last night. Came home, took my pain meds, and promptly crashed. Slept most of the day off and on, still trying to work out the kinks from sleeping on the floor. Ugh.

The roads are good to go now, for the most part. At home, the driveway and sidewalk are still treacherous, however, but life, for the most part, has returned to normal. My husband got called to work today. He said things were fine. To hear the news tell it, they only highlight the ugliest trouble spots, they almost seemed kind of disappointed it cleared up so fast!

Found it funny about the Carolina's. Heard the mayor was angry at his city, as he warned his folks to stay off the roads, and they had a showing of Atlanta two weeks ago. Same scene, cars abandoned on the sides of the roads, etc. This is what ice storms do, folks! Getting real tired of being laughed at for "a dusting of snow" and "you southerner's are idiots who just can't handle this", when the reality belies the taunting.

We suffered through an ice storm, I think epic was a bit overdramatic, however, it did manage to keep most fools off the streets and allowed critical personell to be able to do their jobs. This was vital to making it through this successfully, so I say whatever works is good.

Now I am hearing about the 50 car pileup in Pennsylvania with 30 injuries. Those who were laughing at us should have learned from our mistakes. Instead, they thought us to be "stupid southerner's without a lick of common sense", and it turns out we were the ones who came through this for the better. I am sorry that people were ignorant enough to get out there and harm others, that's a sad fact of ice storms, and ignoring the reality they bring. Experience driving in snow makes ZERO difference, because this was ICE. It doesn't matter how good you think you are, even a half inch of ice doesn't compare to 6 inches of snow.

In summary, I hope some people just take an ego break, and admit that perhaps Atlanta for once, has handled the situation the right and proper way. A bit dramatically, yes. But, we had few deaths and injuries, the power outtages are almost handled, and we stand as a shining example of what to do in an ICE storm. That is, NOT drive, unless in an emergency or critical personnell.

My power just came back on about 30 minutes ago. 5 days and 12 hours with no heat, running water or lights......

The one thing I'm very happy about? Being able to flush our toilets without having to carry buckets of water from the pool.....

The damage that we received was just horrible......then to get shaken out of bed at 10:40 pm or so by an earthquake?

Hah.....guess mother nature decided to throw everything at us. Waiting for a hurricane next.