Ice Storm in New England

[RSteiner]

Thursday night into Friday morning last week there was an ice storm that came through parts of New England including parts of New York.

In New Hampshire there were also 500,000 electric customers with out power Friday.  On Monday morning there are still an estimated 250,000 customers with out power.  There are whole towns where there is no electrical service at all.  Hardest hit are the towns of Peterboro, Dublin, Jaffery, Rindge, and Fitzwilliam. 

A friend of mine is the fire chief in Fitzwilliam I visited with him yesterday and just could not believe the magnitude of the situation.  There are trees still hanging in and on the power lines along major roads.  Poles are broken off transformers are on the ground.  It is not just putting lines back up but a rebuilding of the infrastructure that is necessary in many places.

Some estimates are that some people will be with out power for another week.  It could be a dark Christmas for some.  A friend in Dublin had to use a 350 John Deere bulldozer to open up a mile of dirt road just so he could get from his home to the main road which was blocked for half a day before crews could open it.

Randy

[MrMoo]

I live in southern NH. We are doing ok because we have a generator and we heat with a wood stove. I don't expect power for several more days since at the end of my road the lines are on the ground.
Being without phone service has us most concerned in case we needed emergency services since we do not have a cel phone. The wife and I talked and we decided we will finally breakdown and get one.
We most feel sorry for elderly people that do not have wood heat or a generator.
People have been good offering to help each other out.
I suppose it is just God giving us a good challenge.

[DanG]

Folks up that way are sure in my thoughts and prayers.  I saw a film clip on the news a few minutes ago, and that is some serious damage.  I think I'll just stay down here with my nice, friendly Hurricanes!  At least the disasters that take power away from us are usually in the summer, so we don't have to worry about heating the house.

[Engineer]

I drove from home down to outside Winsted, CT on Friday night, pulling a loaded single-axle trailer and accompanied by 16 Boy Scouts and three other adult leaders.  We had planned a winter campout at a Scout camp near Winsted and were bound and determined to get there, safely, and enjoy the weekend.  None of us realized the magnitude of the ice storm until we got back on Sunday and checked the news reports.  We must have been lucky, from the minute we left Vermont, the roads were clear and clean and there were only a couple of spots where icing had broken up some trees and taken out the power, and the power crews in MA were already out in force. 

The camp we went to had a lot of branches down and the trees were all iced up, and we all spent some time wandering around on Saturday trying to help the camp ranger clean the place up a little.  In spite of the weather, there were at least three other Scout troops from west central CT staying there at the same time we did.   It would have been nice to take on a short-notice community service project for a nearby community that had problems from the storm, but the area we were in just did not seem to have much damage other than a few lines down, which were substantially back up by Saturday. 

[stonebroke]

We just got power back a few minutes ago. Six Con Ed trucks were here. They said this is quite a change from working in the city. I would not trade ice storms for hurricanes. You can always get a generator but you don't get you house blown away.I also saw trucks from mich. across the county.

Stonebroke

[treenail]

Randy,

My in town house didn't lose power at all , or ice damage, but the area near my sugarhouse in Ashuelot , had a lot of ice damage. Finally went up on the mountain late ths morning and found that the entire area was still without power. Hope that you fared better in your end of the town. Just a handfull of miles , and a few hundred feet in elevation made a huge difference.

Ted

[bull]

Got out of my tractor cab at 8:30 pm here in Sterling MA half of town still with out power, neighbor has lent me a generator, have been working everday since the start of the storm opening roads and clearing trees, roads are passable and we are now clearng the roadsides and stock piling large brush piles to chip or grind have cleared about 10 mile of road in the past 2 days will be at it again tomorrow at 7am.
Lost all the shade trees in my yard, place is a mess, been going thru way to much firewood heating the house with the fire place... hope to back feed circulator on the wood furnace to flow heat thru the house...will see may be to busy in the AM, now off to bed need some sleep

[RSteiner]

Randy,

My in town house didn't lose power at all , or ice damage, but the area near my sugarhouse in Ashuelot , had a lot of ice damage. Finally went up on the mountain late ths morning and found that the entire area was still without power. Hope that you fared better in your end of the town. Just a handfull of miles , and a few hundred feet in elevation made a huge difference.

Ted

The lights blinked once Thursday evening and a few small pine branches fell around the house that was it.  We were very fortunate.  A person I work with lives near the bottom the Schofield Mountian road and he is still without power. 

I hope the ice didn't do much damage the maple trees up there. 

Randy

[MrMoo]

We got telephone service back last night  8)
This morning there was a Quebec Hydro truck just around the corner. Could it be that we will have power back in a day or two??
All in all we continue to do well. The woodstove keeps us warm and the PTO generator is doing us good service.

The stand of white birch that I am fond on the front of property will never be the same. About half the trees are bent over even with the ice all melting yesterday. I don't expect they will ever right themselves.

Friday when we heard trees breaking every few minutes I looked at wife and the forest is crying. It will take years for these scars to go away.

[JSNH]

I am in Deering New Hampshire. I have not seen a utility crew yet. Today is day 5 without power and phone. But I am at work in Bedford where we have power mostly. it just went out for the last two hours but it is back on now.  I am some what prepared with a back up generator but I have run 45 gal. of gas thru it.  I did a timber walk and estimate 10% loss in the pines on my land. Many tops off. Some trees down. Looks like it will be the year of salvage boards.

[bull]

more brush stockpiles, another 6 miles of road  8a - 8p  Log trucks have started hauling brush piles from roadside they will work overnight to beat the snow !!
Finally settling in for the night 9:30 PM
light dept installed new poles. No power yet hopefully tomorrow or thursday. Will be working on my place tomorrow need to put on a new weather head and replace the duck seal on the meter socket then move Logs and brush from front yard before heavy snow !!

[JSNH]

No phone no internet at home but the power is back on. It was only 5 days. Many still do not have power and it is snowing with more in the forcast.

[woodman]

   Didnot lose power here , but snow cumming in tomorow.

[mike_van]

From what I've read on the maple syrup site http://mapletrader.com/community/    some of the maple people in NY, Ma. NH & VT have been wiped out by the ice. Some places have thousands of maples with no branches left, split in half, or just uprooted.  Really sad for them. it'll put some out of business for years.                                                                                                   

[bull]

power back on last night 11 pm, getting things back to normal burned brush all day... All ready for snow storm, now snowing 1 -2 inches per hour... Will be out plowing after midnight!!

[RSteiner]

I was at a friends house in Dublin, NH Sunday night to give him a hand with some of the farm chores.  They still are without power, the tree crews had just started clearing the limbs and trees that wera problem.  Still looks like a couple of days before the power is back on.

We had about 24 inches of snow from Friday to Sunday which made the tree and line crews work that much harder.


Randy

[bull]

Well I think it stopped snowing, over 2 feet total and it's blowing and drifting like crazy. Headed back out to plow and clean up..... Make room for more, remember winter only started yesterday !!! What a start, but thats OK I'm Refueling My wallet !!! Thank god for snow or I would be headed to the poor farm !!!

[mike_van]

Wed. they're showing showers & 40F for here - Then Sat & Sun  supposed to be around 50 - If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute as they say -  8)

[farmerdoug]

We just got power back a few minutes ago. Six Con Ed trucks were here. They said this is quite a change from working in the city. I would not trade ice storms for hurricanes. You can always get a generator but you don't get you house blown away.I also saw trucks from mich. across the county.

Stonebroke

That is one good thing about the power companies, they will send their crews and contractors where ever someone needs them.

[eamassey]

Christmas day,
I read this thread for the first time today.  We had a "once in a hundred years" ice storm (here, in SW Arkansas) on Christmas day, 2000.  It sounded like high power rifles going off in rapid succession, from all directions.  Very, very sad-- if you value trees, woodland, and wood.  We were without power for 11 days-- some people, even longer.    The timber stand still suffers.  Perhaps 70% of the pine tops are deformed.  All of the cherry trees tops broke out.   Some pines in the 15-20" class snapped at about 20 feet up.  I likely lost $10K worth of timber--- my fences were broken in at least a hundred places.

But New England, though here the scars are still present to those that know and care, recovery has been remarkable.   

Hope continues. . . .