Pre-Christmas Ice Storm

How's everyone holding up with the ice? We've been fortunate not to lose power yet. Lots of downed trees and branches, and black-outs all over the place. We're all set if we do lose power, so we spent the day salting, clearing ice and trees, trying to head-off widowmakers, and checking on family, friends and neighbours.

It doesn't seem as bad as the 1997 ice storm in Ontario and Quebec, but it caught a lot of people unprepared and there's still a long wait ahead for many of them.

Something to think about: many stores lost power for a significant amount of time, and their perisable goods will have been affected. Christmas grocery shopping is right around the corner for many of us. Check your dates and ask questions!

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4284508-ice-storm-grips-ontario-quebec-and-maritimes/

You got the worst bacpac. Right now I'm down in Missouri. Some ice but not heavy. No trees broken yet.

Pete

Good to hear from you, BPJ! Spring will be here soon - have you noticed that the days are getting longer?

Ice storms make a god-awful mess. Our weather in the West has been completely nuts, but at least the critical infrastructure is intact.

Good job checking on people. Stay safe out there, Jac.

ice is missing us here, a chance of some mornign snow tomorrow (tuesday) but otherwise temps in the 40's all week long, gonna be a brown christmas this year it looks like

to BPJ and anyone else in harm's way, stay safe

I won't even tell yas it was 80f more or less Saturday and Sunday, with an overnight low of 65-70. Rain today, then a return to the usual temps in the 50s. Just as well, people from the South can't drive in rain, never mind snow.

We got a very "light" glazing of Ice here in Iowa, followed up by six inches of snow a day or so later.

The Ice was just enough to make the roads pretty slick. The snow wasn't really heavy, and the snowblower cut right through it.

No power problems here, but even in the worst of storms we hardly ever lose power for more than a few hours. The worst was the Ice Storm of 1990, there was about an inch+ of ice across everything. I still remember the sounds of the tree's breaking, sometimes it sounded like gun-shots. We were without power for a week.

I've thought about getting a whole-house generator, NG/LP capable, but the statistical average for powerloss here in Des Moines in less than 2 hours a year. It just doesn't seem to really be worth it.

I shiver just thinking about the phrase "ice storm". Had a very bad one last year, so bad in fact that city didn't have all the broken trees cleaned up til this fall. I lost power for a couple days and internet for a week or more. Luckily though this winter, although very cold, hasn't seen a repeat of that kind of ice. I guess we're lucky that it's been so cold, just far too cold for rain (it never got above -7 F today).

We lost power in the wee hours last night, and were out for about 10 hours. We're lucky to live on the same block as an EMS depot, so tend to get back up quicker than the surrounding areas. Friends and family are still out and heading into their third day. Local reports are estimating that it could be out at least until the weekend.

We ventured out this morning for a bit of warm air and a hot breakfast, and the main roads were all clear, but many traffic lights were still out. There are trees and power lines down all over the place, and many that look like they're about to go at any moment. It looks like there's more precipitation and cold weather in the forecast tomorrow too. Yuck.

On the home-front, we're realizing how drafty this old house of ours really is, especially when it's coated in a thick sheet of ice. We've got all the emergency supplies we need, except a generator and alternate heating system, but the house cooled off quickly. Not sure how low it got but it was up to 69C a couple of hours after we got home. We were just debating bugging-out when the power came back on. We've been super-warming for the furnace and a space heater since the furnace fan started spinning again, in case we lose it again tonight.

The furnace has been on for about 11 hours now, and the house is still chilly. We put wool blankets around all the doors and windows to help cut the drafts, and everyone put on our thermal long underwear, winter hats and fleece sweaters. We brought the kids into our bedroom, threw an extra wool blanket onto the bed, powered up a battery powered lantern, read a book to the ten year old, and set up the pack-n-play as a mini playground for Little Miss I'm Wide Awake and I WANT TO PLAY! It was actually really cozy, except for the whining.

Sidenote: I hated wearing tights/leotards when I was a kid but they are my new favourite thing!! I can't keep socks or slippers on the girl, but she can't get tights off. HOORAY!!

A small successful DIY project: I tweaked a soup can stove, using an overturned Ikea utensil can as a pot stand, for a much needed cup of coffee this morning. It worked brilliantly with some tea lights!

Belated "Thank You!" to my husband and son for buying me a cheapo Coleman watch with a built in LED. It got a serious work-out, and though I switched to my Peztl e+Lite headlite to make coffee and change a diaper hands-free, it performed admirably!

Adding to tomorrow's shopping list:

-cash. There wasn't an ATM or interact machine working anywhere in our area. (BTW, by all reports, only one grocery store was open in our city, and they had no dairy or meat available that didn't come in a can or a jar, and they were completely overrun with customers.)

-more AA and C batteries. We're not out but I want to restock what we've used asap, just in case. Our crank flashlight and radio worked wonders, btw. I especially recommend giving the shake kind of flashlight to a one year old. It amused her for the longest time!

-a new piece of meat for Christmas dinner. Our frozen bird was stuffed and I'm leary about it. Hopefully a local store or farmer has something in the morning.

-more dairy goods. We lost all of our milk, cream, egg nog and eggs too. The panty is loaded but it's Christmas!


Thank goodness the rest of the family Christmas dinner I'm hosting tomorrow night was comprised of veggies and bread, which made it through just fine. Of course, we do have instant potatoes, stove top stuffing, canned cranberries and veggies, not to mention a few turkey MREs in the panty, so we could wing it if we really needed to!

Merry Christmas everyone! Stay warm!

Glad everyone is safe and sound; I saw a lot of photos of downed trees, wires, and trees on top of cars and into homes on the news this morning.

A couple of quick thoughts:
1.) Depending on the type of heat your house uses, the generator might solve both the generator and "alternate heat" needs. If your source of heat is natural gas, propane or oil, it should not take much power to run the fan and furnace. We have natural gas, and did this for many years when we lost power. The tricky part is being able to get the power into the heating system. Depending on how it is wired, you may need an electrician friend to help.

2.) Was the DIY stove for practice or out of need? If the latter, I really suggest picking up a coleman or equivalent 2 burner propane stove. Simple, easy and works well. I think its safe enough to use indoors with adult supervision and in a safe location. Two burners should be enough to get everyone something hot. . .

Thanks for the report and good luck with the next round.

Bacpacjac,

I have a number of recycled 1 and 2 liter plastic bottles filled with water and frozen in my chest freezer. In the case of a power outage they will help keep the food in the freezer frozen and/or I can then use them in an ice chest. Since it is below freezing outside where you are (in the winter anyway), I expect you could keep such frozen water bottles outside or in a garage. You could then use them in an ice chest inside to keep things like dairy products cold.

I second the idea of having a propane camp stove for cooking use during power outages. I have used mine several times. Just beware of the CO issue and have some ventilation (it sounds like you have lots of that already). I highly recommend having a CO monitor (battery powered).

However, if it is close to freezing inside your house, propane won't work all that well. A Sterno stove (or two) might be a better choice under those circumstances. I have those too.

Stay warm.

It was an even 40 deg F for the morning dog walk, 75 here now, bright and sunny. Looking like highs in the mid-70's all week. Merry Christmas

Ice storms can be very destructive when heavy. But the mild storm here in Missouri has put one-inch icicles on the trees and bushes. When the sun hits all those gleaming icicles ... It's one of the most beautiful winter scenes that I have ever seen.

Merry Christmas from the Midwest.

Pete

Michigan resident here.
I think general consensus is that we got the worst of it.
Outages peaked at over 600,000 and still remain over 30,000 a week later. In my office only one of us still had power after last Saturday night and we all live in completely different areas. Urban, suburbia, rural...didn't matter, everyone got nailed. I heard and saw transformers going off like popcorn all night. Finally at 4am Sunday my emergency lights came on...no power.

I've always lived in areas with extremely stable grids so we've never popped for a generator. Our in-laws bought one for "the family" to use, which has been rare but when we went out so did my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, who had the generator. Fortunately, a buddy still had power and a genny (Honda EU200i) to lend so I had our furnace going again within a few hours. Some of our neighbors bailed for relatives houses or hotels. Our next-door neighbors decided to stick it out so I lent them the genny when we weren't home and invited them over when we were. We were going to host a Christmas Eve party at our home and since I had things under control, rotating the genny (only a 1600watt running load) between the furnace, fridge, freezer, and well pump (Yes, I live in a city and have well water), we decided to keep our plans. We got an early Christmas present when our power came up at 4pm on Tuesday, just as people were arriving.

I have friends living in the city (Lansing, Michigan's capitol) who only get power back TODAY...a big relief to one of them whose wife just gave birth to their second child Friday. And our boss, who lives about 10 miles out, is still down.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Heat - The house stayed in the 60s for about 6 hours until I was able to procure a genny. After that, no problem. Without the genny and temps in the teens, we would definitely have been bugging out. I'm part snowman but my wife uses 2 blankets even in the summer.

Lighting - I'm a bit of a flashaholic so we were flush with LED lights and lanterns. Neighbors only had old florescent and incandescent camp lights running on large cell batteries that were ransacked after the storm. I gave them a bunch of Cs and D cell batteries that I had for my kids toys. I'm more of a AA or CR123 user. After I got the genny going I strung up a bunch of LED Christmas lights throughout the house. You can string up to 43 in a chain (vs 6 of the old incans) and they barely register to the genny.

Water - We have a well despite living in town. Previous owner didn't hookup when they started offering municipal water and it's $10k to get in now. This is the one time I would consider well water a negative. Thankfully we have a 90 gallon cistern instead of an on-demand pump so I only had to run it every couple hours to keep the pressure up.

Generator - like I said we've always lived in places with stable power so the need/fear has never been present. This has now changed and we're actually going to buy my buddy's genny. He wants to upgrade and I like the efficiency/mobility/quiet of the Honda. I could top off the 1 gallon tank at 11pm and not worry about it until 7am when I left for work.

Food - we were preparing to host a party, no worries.

Just heard a piece on the radio mentioning that ER admissions for carbon monoxide spiked in Maine as power went down. Where you put that genny and how you improvise heating can make a real difference.

Hopefully everyone affected by the ice storm both above and below the 49th has come through unscathed.

Unfortunately, I have a bit of rant.

We were deployed to assist in organizing and setup of the warming centres (evac centres) outside the GTA and it was a learning experience.

Fortunately, the municipal/regional staff came together quickly. The centres were also staffed by the public health (RNs), the Red Cross (also to provide resources - cots, blankets, toiletry kits, etc.), St. Johns Ambulance (paramedics) and last but not least the Sally Ann's (to help staff the kitchens).

It was a bit of a rough start, but no plan no matter how well practiced survives first contact. After the first day everyone settled into their roles and helped each other where required. The problems came not from resources but from staffing. Owing to the scope of storm and being Christmas time - everyone was stretched thread bare. 8h shifts quickly turned into 12-15h.

Not complaining - when you looked at all those displaced from their homes at Christmas time - suck it up and do your job. At least my power is on and I have a warm place to sleep.

The one major criticism I have is communication. This will be raised during the debriefing but the one statement that constantly drove everyone up the wall was 'please check the website' (insert government or private industry provider).

THE POWER IS OFF YOU IDIOTS (not referring to anyone on ETS). THERE IS NO POWER FOR COMPUTERS, SMARTPHONES OR TELEVISIONS.

Radio is the only reliable source for the displaced. People did not know where to go. The were desperately trying to contact anyone and everyone. 911 was overwhelmed with the call volumes. When an event of this magnitude occurs information is the most valued commodity for the vulnerable. Many of the clients had pre-existing medical conditions and special needs (i.e. mental health related). Some were just looking for a hot meal and warm place to rest. Those served represented a wide cross section.

It might be a good idea in future to broadcast the relevant local information on all radio stations in proximity on the half hour. Barring that - with the advent and install of the smart hydro (electrical) meter the utilities can determine the effected areas. Dispatch resources to inform people (leaflets) informing them where to go.

Sorry, just needed to vent. A safe and happy new year to all.

Thank you for the AAR! Radio broadcasts prior to the storm's arrival would be an improvement and the people affected would definitely be tuned in after they lost power.

Thank you and all who responded during the storm and it's aftermath.

I live just north of the Tampa Bay area, and am fortunate to have excellent Doppler radar coverage by NOAA and the TV stations.. one with dual pole vertical and horizontal display... we don't get the super cell EF5 tornadoes of the mid West..., but do get some cyclones spun off the trailing edge of winter cold fronts as the warm air is driven up... and with the squall lines and storm bands of approaching tropical cyclones... a portable digital TV is nice to have.... when the weather alert radio goes off, and the power is out, a battery powered TV is a comfort...for longer duration power outages, provides a lot of relief from the boredom... with a short section of cable and a pair of rabbit ears I get several local TV stations... one uses a GPS function to tell which street the cyclone is turning on....additionally it works with a 12v cigarette plug to recharge and run....something to think about

Yes, it probs goes without saying, but do be careful with this.

It's been many years ago that my cousin and uncle's power went out and they put their generator in the basement with an open window to vent, but it wasn't enough. Long story short, the CO buildup killed my cousin and my uncle suffered from serious brain injuries from the lack of oxygen to his brain, he eventually died a few years later as well.