I was a little surprised to log on today and NOT find a thread going about the ice storm in Oklahoma. It is a classic example of many things that have been discussed here - whether to hunker down or bug out, how long to prepare for, etc.

Ice storms, as well as tornadoes, are the biggest factor where I live. We had an almost identical situation here a few years ago. (our 3rd ice storm in several years) THICK ice all over everything, power out for over a week in town, 2 weeks in outlying areas - in 20 degree weather. If you want to try to get out, first you have to chip the ice off your car (can take hours), if as in my case, no garage. There was no where close by to bug out to, since all the hotels were full or without power. for a farther destination, the interstate may be salted, but it's the getting there. Here we had no street lights in a city of 250k, trees down everywhere across the streets and roads....all the trees became our enemy with huge limbs crashing down on streets, houses, and people from the weight of the ice. (I've heard there have been 20-some fatalities in the OK crisis-all people in vehicles)

I like to compare gear, and speculate on the what-ifs on this site too. Many have experience during wilderness camping to guide their preparations, but in a "situation," it gets real really fast, and like the California fires and Oregon mudslides, PREPAREDNESS is what this site is all about. We should view these emergencies as ways to learn, so we can be prepared as possible when it's our turn.

Ice storms are a problem here in Maryland also. We often lose power because the local utility has yet to understand that ice on trees cause the limbs and trees to fall on their power lines, thus causing power to go out.

Our response is to bug in. This means generators (primary, and a back up) for heat (gas furnace, small power requirement) and hot water. We have a gas stove. Ice storms have not yet cut water or gas (all underground). Thus, gas for the generator(s) and food and we are snug until the electric company gets power back to us.

In the scheme of things, a non-minor but reasonably handled problem if you have made the necessary preparations and lucky enough to have gas instead of all electric. (Gas heat and gas stove was a criteria for our house.)

I think those ETSers that were affected are without power and so can not post. Those with power just shrug and continue on our merry way.

Perhaps after a week or two without power the rest of the nation might look for some "survivor titillation" stories, but for the most part OK/KS don't show up on most people's radars.

-Blast

I've never been in an ice storm, and hope I never am. I'd rather have a good old-fashioned prairie blizzard.

When Ontario and Quebec (and I assume New York and Maine) were hit hard by the ice storm in '98, and I saw the pictures, that was the impetus to get a safe and efficient wood stove in my house.

Hope everyone stays safe.

In my area we had a about 1/4 of ice on everything...except the roads. Ground temp was too warm. We lost power for about 3 hours. I made great use of my EDC light (JetBeam Mk II) at work. I also have an LED lantern, snacks and bottled water, basic tools, batteries and a radio at work. In my area, the storm was a minor inconvenience.

40 mile north of me ~250,000 people are without power. Many are without water, too.

todd

I'm guessing that I'm about 40 miles north of you Todd. lol

Things are quite the mess up here. Glad to hear you made out a little better. A significant number of folks lost power on Sunday but ours held on until about 0300 on Monday morning.

We had a nice one a couple years ago too 2004 IIRC. Even days afterward I still had over 1" tick ice on top of my truck, I had went out to lowes at lunchtime to get more stuff to fix my house where the tree had fallen on it and shoved that layer of ice off the top of the cap and when it hit the ground it shattered and a big chunk flew up and hit me and I was bleeding from it.
It had rained and turned to ice here and yould hear trees falling all night long and one fell on the line from the transformer to out house and ripped the pole and meter box off our house but we still had power. Insurance cpmpany told me to call and tree service and electrician but both were booked up for months so I made a hardware store trip and bought a new box and put it on the wall, bought a chainsaw and cut the tree off then my neighbor who is an electrician came over and clipped the live wires carefully so we could put the pole back up and we fed the wires through it and reconnected them.
We were lucky, many people were without power for a week or more and bugged out to hotels and such that still had power. My gas tank in my truck was pretty full but my wife's car was low so I drove out in the evening a day or so after the storm first hit and it was odd to be driving down a normall lit street and see everything dark, from houses to businesses. I finally found an open gas station who seemed to be raising the price between every customer and topped off her tank.

Ice in mid-Missouri has been a challenge too. For the last few days my scanner has received countless accident calls. Ice is causing a lot of destruction. On the highway, I was narrowly missed by a huge thick sheet of ice that flew off a car about six car lengths ahead of me. The ice sheet slammed onto the road a few feet in front of me. I'm glad it didn't come through the windshield. Iced down trees and powerlines have fallen across the roadways, on cars, and houses. On Monday, a 56 year old man was cutting down a tree when another tree fell on him. He didn't survive. This probably sounds obvious but if you're out there be extra careful around ice laden trees and power lines. They have come down rather suddenly.

Thats why I shoved the sheet off the top of mine into a parking lot, I didn't want to come off later while driveing.

I have a sister and her family near Tulsa. They have no electricity or phone due to ice. Yet, they are well prepared and are doing fine. They thanked me over and over for the generator I gave them when they moved there Oct of 06.
kmat

I was in the heart of the 1998 ice storm. There had been many deadly accidents of trees falling. Even walking downtown near high rise building was a hazard and if I remember, they closed some streets for that reason.

I was really worried about the trees that were all bent and breaking. It was a surrealistic apocalyptic vision. But actually nature has an amazing capacity to recover.

One lesson I learned is to stock up on candles before such an event happens. There was quickly a candle shortage and merchant quadrupled the prices. Same for batteries, firewood, gasoline and other goods. We would rage that no one should be permitted to profit from the misery of others...

Living in a studio, I had to bug out to join relatives that had a fireplace. But sometimes it was a better idea to join a public shelter because many fireplaces where not designed to withstand a constant use like that and their home caught on fire.

NO kidding Blast, this is flyover country..if the same number of people in NYC had no power, it would be a national disaster...but like the song says, "A country boy can survive."

I'm on day three with no power, well prepared compared to some. I am having hot meals while I spoke to a guy at work today who had PB and crackers last night for dinner.

Some of the elderly are especially vulnerable. My wife works with one who as total electric except for one of those fake fire places that are gas. Sent her a campstove and heater today with some candles and lighter and fuel for both. Maybe it will help.

I live in Central OK. We had approx. 3/4 to 1 inch of ice on everything except the roadways. Strangley the ground temps were high enough that the roadways remained clear the entire time.

When I say 3/4 of an inch on everything, I mean it. It is difficult to explain how devastating the ice build-up has been.
I have lived in Oklahoma my entire life, I've seen my fair share of ice storms but 9 times out of 10, these are accumulations of sleet and snow. It's fun to play/drive on. But....this time there was no sleet or snow, just freezing rain and what an abomination that is.

At least 50% of the trees in the city are gone or will soon be. They either cracked in half at the trunk or split down the trunk into the ground like a peeled banana. At night is sounded like a warzone. It is really spooky. The most heavily damaged trees I've seen around town are Syccamores, Maples (that hadn't lost all of their leaves yet), and the poor poor Bradford Pear trees. I bet there isn't a single Bradford pear that survived.

Lots of streets were blocked for at least several hours before the clean-up crews could move the downed trees and power lines to the side of the road.

I've learned several lessons during this ice storm that I thought I'd pass on:

1. I was only without power for about 8-10 hours, but the temp in my house bottomed-out at about 62-degrees despite the 30 degree and below temps outside. My parents are still without power and their house is "uncomfortably cold" by their estimate. A co-worker that has been without power for going on three days said the temp in his house this morning was 42 degrees.
If you haven't seriously conscidered an alternate heat source...you should. I have a fireplace that I have neglected since moving into a new (to me) house and I haven't had it cleaned/inspected and therefore won't use it for fear of burning the house down. I also didn't have a good supply of dry seasoned wood on hand to make this a viable option for heating the house. I'll be taking care of these oversites soon! I'm also going to be looking into getting one or two of the Mr. Heater Little Buddies as an alternate portable heat source. I've been reading nothing but good reviews on these.

2. Good LED area lights (lanterns) and headlamps are life savers in an extended power outage. I was in the middle of upgrading my lanterns from florescents to LEDs when the storm hit. The LED lantens are great and run forever (i'm using the newer energizer LED folding lanterns - both the D-cell and AA-cell versions I got at Home Depot and Walmart respectively). I'd trade all but one of my expensive "tactical" lights that run for 20-minutes to 1-hour at high brightness for a simple relatively inexpensive LED headlamp that will run for hours/days. Having the use of both hands without having to hold a flashlight is a godsend! I have a Myo XP headlamp and really love it. It has good throw and a diffuser for area lighting. I plan on getting several of these headlamps.

3. When the power went out in my city. We were advised to begin "rationing water" as the power to the water pumps that supply water from the lake to the treatment facility to the water towers was down. The only water available in the city was on gravity-feed from the water towers. Thankfully power was quickly restored to the pumps...Don't forget to store emergency water at the house. You can't cook, flush a toilet, or drink without some pretty bulky water supplies. A couple of cases of bottled water aren't sufficient for any extended period of time.

4. My parents, even up until last week, made fun of my emergency preparations (even though we live in Oklahoma, the tornado capitol of the US). They aren't laughing now that they have been cold, without power, without water (they have a well), and little hot food or entertainment for over three days. But, even without having preps at the house and with a little brainstorming...we were able to come up with some work-arounds so they could be a little more comfortble. Remember that an outdoor gas grill can be used just like a gas range. You can heat/cook soups and cook on pots/pans that are oven-safe on an outdoor grill. Remember not to bring the grill indoors as there is a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. They also put out buckets to catch rain water so that they would have water to flush the toilets with. Needless to say, they'll be making some emergency preps after this experience.

5. If you don't have it before the incident...you likely won't get it. Even though I was pretty well supplied, I stopped by the local Walmart to get a few odds and ends on the morning after the power went out. Most of the stores in the city were closed due to a lack of power (Sams Club, one of the Super Walmarts, banks, fueling stations, etc.) The camping isles were bare, no fuel, propane canisters, sterno cans, camp stoves, water storage containers, or anything. All of the bulk packages of batteries in the common sizes were all sold out. Bottled water...gone. Candles, in all but the obnoxious scents, were all sold out. The flashlight isle was bare. P.S. few if any remember how to run a store without power/computers.

6. Cell phones continued to work throughout the incident but some of the towers near me must have gone down as my reception dropped from 4 or 5 bars to 1/2 to 1 bar most of the time. Portable phones don't work when the power goes out...so have an older non-portable phone hooked up for use when there is no power.

7. Be sure to check on your elderly neighbors in emergency situations. They may not be able to care for themselves in an extended power outage. P.S. most of the ones I know are pretty pridefull and won't ask for help until it is too late. Remember their stories can help pass the time where there isn't any television/Xbox.

8. Speaking of entertainment. If you've got kids make sure you have some that aren't dependent on power.


These are just some of my observations. I hope our friends in the effected areas that are still without power are fairing well and keeping warm.

-Silent

Silent,

Excellent post! Here in Houston ice storms are deemed to be very, very rare and I've never given serious consideration to staying warm. Your post has me re-evaluating my preps.

-Blast

I am up here on the edge of the storm, N of Chicago, S of WI.
We had a good ice storm on the freeze line, but our timing was good and 1/2 in.of rain mostly fell "wet" onto 6 inches of snow cover. We also got lucky with little wind. The trees are all still covered, but just above freezing temps helped lighten the tree load this PM.
I am home alone,as the DW is off on business, so I had another chance to reprioritize my needs. Losing power would shut down my sub pump, leading to a battle royal between rising water in my drain tiles and dropping temps. My personal comfort would have to take second chair to fighting that battle.
I did pat myself on the back for having enough dry firewood to ride out most short term issues since it is early in the burn season. I even built a fire last night, starting with 3 dry logs, then moving onto some seasoned, but now wet firewood.
The cat looked up from his place near the crackling fire and said "Nice job..." or so I think if I read his cat smile correctly.
I would have been disappointed if I had needed the generator I have so far not bought. The neighbor I talk preparedness with has one, but he would need it if we were both stuck.

I have had similar experiences to many of these. Falling limbs don't "snap" or "pop," when they break off, they BOOM!!! I've never been in a warzone, but that's what I thought of with the intermittent concussion sounds going off for days.

Those big, thick, sheets of ice can also slide off roofs. When your car begins to warm inside or even when your dark roof shingles begin to warm - KA-BOOM! Those sheets of ice are big, heavy, SHARP, and deadly. The most dangerous time is as things start to melt. In my town, one big chunk of ice came off the tower at one of the TV stations and went right through the roof of the station like a rocket. (no one was hurt)

Heat remains my biggest challenge. I have a fireplace, but I live in a townhouse (all electric), so storing large amounts of firewood - or even lots of kerosene for a stove, is not feasible. I've never met a "Duraflame" log yet that would last for more than 2 - 2 1/2 hours, no matter what the label said.

I'm in Okmulgee.

todd

I believe I heard a quick news story about a wave of forty or so cases of CO poisoning - the result of using grills indoors during this ice storm. Carbon monoxide is very tricky stuff.

That is starting to sound like NW Washington state last winter...

Tips for people who have part time fireplaces and are scrounging-

Check your draw, make sure you are venting your smoke. You'll have some, but too much leads to drowsiness, red face, then blue face.

Check your chimney, make sure you don't have something like a squirrel nest in it, or a duck. (Trust me on this- a duck fits in a chimney.)

Avoid soft woods, like pine, if at all possible. More resinous, so you get more sparks, and more soot. A chimney fire might warm the house, but it is the last thing you need.

Avoid, absolutely, manufactured wood products like chip board, plywood, pressure treated, etc. See above, but if you aren't getting a good draw, then heavier than air combustion products might be leaking back in, some of which are even more fun that carbon monoxide.

And for fuel that is easy to store, look at wood pellets. They are compressed saw dust, that's it. They are a pain to light, but they burn slow while throwing good heat, and a hobo stove full of them lasts for a while.

I have had similar experiences to many of these. Falling limbs don't "snap" or "pop," when they break off, they BOOM!!!

A number of years ago, I had the branches of a chinese elm directly over my house freeze up in an ice storm.
The sound of the falling branches was very similar to what I would think a chandalere crashing might sound like.

I'm in Broken Arrow. I hope you're doing well!

We were without power for about 55 hours but we still have a LOT of friends that have been without power since early Sunday morning. Big pieces of the whole Tulsa metro area are still without power.

We used flashlights, small electric lanterns and candles for light. I prefer to keep a low profile so one of Honda's small Super Quiet gen's kept the frig on line and a couple of small electric heaters running. We have a gas cook-top, gas hot water heater and gas log fireplace so that helped with heat as well. The DW was surprised how much heat a stock pot full of boiling water puts off.

The local meteorologists gave us plenty of warning. I'm constantly amazed at how many people don't do the simple things like topping off gas tanks and stocking up on simple things like batteries.


Edited to add:
Thank God for a closet full of board games, art supplies, etc. The kids and I also found out that BB guns and icicles are good for HOURS of entertainment!

Looks like Public Service Company of Oklahoma is saying 148,310 of their customers in Northeastern OK are still without power. 143,300 of those customers are in the Tulsa metro area.

PSO has posted some pictures here...http://www.psoklahoma.com/news/

"And for fuel that is easy to store, look at wood pellets. They are a pain to light, but they burn slow while throwing good heat..."

Very true. Easiest way to light: form pile of pellets into a U shape (opening toward you). Light half a Coughlan's firestarter stick and put it in the U. Have a supply of narrow, dry sticks and criss-cross them over the firestarter. If you have some larger sticks, lay them over the U. Works great.

Tip: old, dry cedar fence boards (split) are excellent for starting fires.

Sue