We got hit with the worst storm in years here in OH. Some cities got 18-24" dumped on them. It snowed all day yesterday but we only got 4-6" but then got freezing rain all night. It sounded like a war zone with crashing every couple minutes of the frozen trees falling. I walked out side in the morning to see this:


We still have power though but it could have been worse, I'm surprised we didn't loose power or have a fire. Neighbor is an electrician so he came over and looked and we were surprised there wasn't any damage to the wires, just broke the top of the meter box off. He said a new meter box and mounts and we would be fine and he could re-wire it for me. He had to go to his sisters house to hook up a generator for her so I ran to the hardware store and bought a meter box and parts. Called tree places and no one can even give an estimate until next week so I bought a chain saw and cut the fallen tree and branches up to get them out of the way.
Lots of people without power and the temp is going to go below zero tonight, many people in shelters, news says to bring a three day supply of clothing and medicine and your own blankets.
I drove back to the hardware store to get some more threaded rod and it was very quiet in there, minimal lights and registers running from their generator but the heating system and all their displays were off. Sign said they were sold out of generators and there were no flashlights or batteries left that I could see. Main streets were dark and people don't know to 4way stop at an intersection with non functioning lights so people on side streets were getting impatient and pulling out into the moving traffic. Most gas stations had closed, the few that were open had long lines and only 93 octane left. Fast food drive through's were out into the street and half a block out. Many places where roads were one lane due to a down tree or electric wire. Very dark and quiet in the city.
I'm very lucky I still have power, I need to get a generator and some form of backup heating.

I'm in Missouri for a few weeks. Your "almost had" comment reminded me of a story last night on
the local news...

Interstate 55 was shut down for several hours due to numerous traffic accidents. One woman they
interviewed had been there for over 7.5 hours. A simple trip to the store can turn into a survival
situation, even if there's nothing wrong with your car.

Temps are forecast to be in the 50s by Monday here. Hope it warms up some in Ohio.

We spent Christmas in St. Louis, driving up from South Carolina. We barely got ahead of the big storms. My brother-in-law made the same drive a day later than us and got stranded in a huge backup on I-24 in Kentucky. What is usually about a 6-hour drive from Nashville to St. Louis took him 14 hours... and he had no car trouble and did not get stuck in the snow.

Be prepared!