Just come on over to southeast Mo. How are you guys doing Arkansawer. My old lady was trying to get some trucks down there with generators but the roads are being tough on the drivers. Hope we dont lose power i heard flippins store the lights are flickering.
Freezing rain or rain for the last 21 hours. Went for a walk this morning along the forest edge...big snaps, followed by the crackle of smaller limbs breaking, than the pop when the whole mess hits the ground. The deer have decided to spend the day in the fields it looks like. So far we have been lucky with the power still on and no damage. Others not near as fortunate. Nephew and family over towards Arkie land says it much worse there.
It just took me an hour to get the 10 miles from the house to the mill. Power is out most places and goes in and out here. Wires and trees are down and more going all the time. We have an inch of sleet and 3/4 to 1 inch of ice on everything. It is 28 degrees and still comming down. When the temps drop tonight things are going to be tough. Entergy says 48 hours till we get power at home. Tree in front yard busted off about half way up and just missed the house. I hope the rest will make a nice log.
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Are you folks going to hire the "Saw for Hire" people? I hear they have experience with clean up of ice storms. ;D ;D
Well I went ice skating with my truck yesterday here in Stillwater, I was doing good until a bridge jumped out in front of me. :o I wasin our subdivision and was almost within site of the house when truck lost its grip coming down the hill with the curves. Slid over and hit guard rail on bridge.Broke drivers side suspension and front axle braces are bent.
This hill claims some one every year and I guess it was my turn.
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good thing ya wasnt hurt okmulch. we still havent lost power yet hopefully we can hold on. If we lose it we will be heading somewere with heat i guess cant let the little one get cold. We have a few limbs down in the yard but nothing major. my driveway looks like a arch with all the small trees laid over. good luck guys.
Ouch :o
Looking at the kinks in the guard rail you aren't the first to hit it? ;)
Ian
I just talked to Lindy on the phone. Power's been down since about 3:00 this morning. She got the generator going and is doing ok. She says it sounds like a battlefield outside with all the trees and branches snapping. Her and the boy have plenty of firewood, water drawn up and lot's of grub. She stocked up on everything before it all hit. She's a tough cookie. They'll be fine. They're sitting by the heat stove watching TV.
My better half is a Distric Manager for a large farm and home store and her phone will not stop ringing. They are trying to get generators out for all the stores. They have had problems getting the trucks out to the stores. They are sendind out truckloads of generators. Hopefully they can get down to you guys in Arkansas I know you guys need the help. One truck has been stuck on the road for 24 hours now trying to make it there.
I am ready for this stuff to stop. Never in my recollection have we had as many ice storms as we have in the last 3 years running. been falling here since yesterday afternoon and I guess it wont stop till tonight sometime. My 2 wheel drive truck hates this stuff and my ramcharger wouldnt start so I called in today, boss was ticked off.
It is headed my way. I LOVE tire chains. Most folks today don't even know they exsist. I have them for nearly everything wheeled that we own/ have on the property. The only exception is my wife's Odessey, I need to order some "cables" for her as there is little clearence in the wheel well. I can't tell you the number of times they have saved my butt, either in snow/ ice or mud. I carry "quikie" chains for my truck (F-550) they slip thru the outer bud rim and take just a few seconds to attach. You can put them in every bud rim hole except where the valve core is. They'll save yer fanny. You can even make yer own with a small legnth of chain and a 5/16 bolt/nut. The fancy store bought ones have webbing, but it's not necessary.
Hang in there, hopefully it'll pass soon enough.
Ironwood
We are getting the ice now. Last one we had electric was off 11 days and destroyed the timber industry in around here for several years to come. Everybody has gas for generators and food layed in. Hope that means it won't get as bad.
Quote from: okie on January 27, 2009, 04:45:51 PM
I am ready for this stuff to stop. Never in my recollection have we had as many ice storms as we have in the last 3 years running. been falling here since yesterday afternoon and I guess it wont stop till tonight sometime. My 2 wheel drive truck hates this stuff and my ramcharger wouldnt start so I called in today, boss was ticked off.
better boss ticked--than you dead---same thing used to happen where i worked--until that lawsuit against walmart the guy won--they no longer bothered us if the conditions warranted not coming in--
Lost power at 1 PM...I'm on generator power now. Big trees are breaking...I would never have thought that it would sound like thunder. I can't get out on our drive because of down trees plus two inches of ice on the drive. Dad lives in downtown Springdale a block from the power substation...he was evacuated about an hour ago to a senior center with power. News is saying in Madison county 99% are without power.
Yes Ironwood chains are good...I may chain up the 4wd tractor in the morning to clear a path.
On the good side its supposed to be in the 50's Saturday...I'm going fishin iffen I can get the mess cleaned up by then. :)
Larry, in the (I think it was ) January of 07 ice storm we was out of power for over a week. The trees breaking really sounded like a war zone. saw a maple that was about 18'' dia broke in half about 4' up. Amazing what this stuff will do. Weather turned to snow now, got a little over an inch on top of the ice so I think I'll get out tomorrow.
Good luck guys hope everyone stays safe.
I bet all the northerners on here are rolling their eyes at us ::) :D.
Quote from: okie on January 27, 2009, 07:01:37 PM
I bet all the northerners on here are rolling their eyes at us ::) :D.
I'm not. When you don't have to deal with it all the time, it is very difficult when it hits. We deal with it a lot, so we are more prepared. I feel for you guys and hope you all stay safe.
I lived in Alabama in 93 and we had a major ice storm and 12" of snow. You could hear pine trees snapping a mile away. I personally think it should be against the law to plant a pine tree within a 100' of any power lines or houses, just a disaster waiting to happen.
Just got off the phone with Lindy again. Trees are crashing all around. We had a real big hickory in the front of the house that just went down. Took out the green house roof but no other damage. The house is good so far. I have taken out most of the trees close to the house anyway, worried about fire. Never considered ice >:( Her and Paul and one of the neighbor boys are all doing well so far. The neighbor kid is pretty much stuck at the house for. She says you can't safely get back down the driveway because of ice and fall down. Looks like I'll be having fun when I get home this time.
Quote from: okie on January 27, 2009, 07:01:37 PM
I bet all the northerners on here are rolling their eyes at us ::) :D.
No way! After surviving a few of those ice storms I would not laugh at anyone going thru one of those disasters. We had a Haloween storm one year and we were on a tractor generator for almost two weeks. Took about seventy gallons of fuel a day.
Just be careful as there will be limbs falling for a long time, even after the ice is gone.
So we are feeling your pain.
For folks up in arkansas, church group here has 3 well equipped disaster recovery trailers (chain saws, pole saws, ropes, bobcat with grapple) and a large self-contained portable kitchen. All maned by volunteers. Probably available if needed. Equipment is located in Ruston La.
edit: should add there's no charge, it's a "help your neighbor deal"
Ice is never fun, north, south, east, west. The freezing rain just started here >:(.
Ironwood
I bet all the northerners on here are rolling their eyes at us ::) :D.
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As a northerner I would rather have six feet of snow than one inch of ice. At least you can plow the snow. Stay safe and we will be praying for all you southerners.
Stonebroke
Wow, I just figured it would be like just another day to y'all. I for one appreciate everyones kind words and encouragements. Good luck to everyone that has been in this storm, and all that its about to hit, it is a big one by our standards.
I'm not laughing when it comes to ice.I've been seeing this big storm on the news.What a mess.We are due for some big snow amount.That is fine with me.I would rather have the snow than the ice.Snow don't bother us much,but that ice really slows,I mean stop,alot of things.We may get a foot and a half of snow.That is a big storm for us.Most times we only get 6 or 8 inches per storm.
We had a ice storm in '98.What a mess.I went out and video the storm.Tree limbs was crashing down and making a lot of noise.We was without power for a week.Probaly 2-3 hours from me we had another ice storm this year.We was lucky we got snow.
okie you guys have my respect and sympathies for this. Two years ago we got one and lost power for a week. Worst part was trying to run a business with minimal power on generator. I'd rather have a full blown blizzard with a foot of snow than an ice storm any day.
So far we are lucky, no iced trees (at least not thickly iced) Moved the cars away from the trees near the house just in case though. If this had all been snow, we'de of gotten 12-14 as it has been raining hard for many many hours. Someone is surely going to have a mess from this, luckily not us.
Ironwood
No ice storm is laughing matter , that one Cfarm mentioned in '98 we lived through also , aint easy , lines go down, trees go down , there was also some buildings that where damaged , very hard to move on ice , I would much rather have the snow , at least you can push/plow/blow your way through it .... or call Stumpjumper jr with his new to him toy to the rescue . ;)
Those trees are loaded and very dnagerous they snap without any warning , if possible stay clear of them . Too many accidents happen from being to close with out a reason .
I echo what has been said already, I'll take a blizzard over ice anytime. Blizzards don't damage things. I think most of us (at least from up North on this forum) have the toys for dealing with blizzards. 4x4's, tractors, snow blowers etc. Heck, I get kinda disappointed if we don't have a good blizzard at least once a year! 8)
Ice storms.......................... :o :o :o, stay safe and take your time in the clean-up. Don't anybody fall and bust your keester, and don't let anything fall on you and bust your noggin!
We are under a state of emergency. This is a big one.1/8" ice, 4"snow, 1"ice, now more snow. Trees bowing and breaking everywhere. No one moving on the roads. We have 3 phase with big poles, so will take some big limbs to take them down. Wind from Ike took them down in Sept though. We have just 100 feet of single phase to the house through the woods and we have a generator so we will be just fine. I have to keep the wood furnace for the mill going so the lines won't freeze. I ain't looking forward to the walk to the mill. Only 800 feet, but downhill.
No idea how many others are without juice.
I hope all of you in this mess are fine and be safe.
Just talked to mydaughter that lives about 3 miles away from me. They have no electric and she says it sounds like a war zone with the trees going down. We have ice, but not that much yet. Was going to take her a generator but there are trees across the road.
CAn't get Lindy on the phone today. Either the lines are down or somebody stold the phone companies generator from up the road. Most likely they couldn't get to it to refuel. I'll try her cell, but she never keeps it charged so may not get to her on it either.
Trick for you ice bound folks, run some pan head sheet metal screws into your boots, like having small crampons on.
Ironwood
Just caught Lindy on her cell for a couple of minutes. Her and Paul are ok. Nothing on the house or truck so far. My 140 acres of woods is now 140acres of broken stumps. Power lines and poles down everywhere. Sounds like a real mess.
Quote from: Ironwood on January 28, 2009, 10:44:01 AM
Trick for you ice bound folks, run some pan head sheet metal screws into your boots, like having small crampons on.
Ironwood
Which side out? :o :o
Us Norweigans need to know. :D :D
Northern hemisphere head side out, Southern hemisphere points out ::)
Ironwood
Quote from: LeeB on January 28, 2009, 10:46:14 AM
Just caught Lindy on her cell for a couple of minutes. Her and Paul are ok. Nothing on the house or truck so far. My 140 acres of woods is now 140acres of broken stumps. Power lines and poles down everywhere. Sounds like a real mess.
Sorry to hear that Lee (about your trees) but real glad your family is okay. I talked to my wife's parents last night. They are up near the town of Ozark. As of last night, they hadn't gotten any ice yet but were expecting it to hit the area that night. Just a few miles away from them it was already getting real bad. Her folks are pretty well set up and should be okay for a while.
You guys in the path of this thing hang in there. We'll be praying for you all.
took me 10 mins to get to the barn this am .To feed horses and donk. A downhill slide to an uphill climb in 100 yards. Repeat process to get to house. 2 steps forward and 6 back . Why oh why are my Caulked boots under my desk at work? Im out of power and running on a Gen. got cords run everywhere. The Temp has dropped 4 degrees as it was warming and raining now its 29 and snowing huge flakes . Ill be without power for a few days is my guess.
I am about 45 miles west and a little north of Cedarman. We got some ice last night, and about 6" of snow. Power is still on here, and the trees are standing it well. 8) One of my daughters lives 12 or so miles southwest of here, and their power went out this morning. Snow is drifted in their drive, so a rescue mission will be mounted after I get the cattle all fed. Feeding my own belly right now. My wife has been staying at her job at Evansville since Monday. Conditions there are pretty rough, with lots of power out down there. It is hard to imagine the millions in damage and disrupted business from this one.
i think the ice is over here ineastern ohio, it switched from ice to snow about an hour ago, it's really coming down. still have power and havn't lost any trees that i know of, will be praying for all of you that have been hit hard by this thing. any Ohio folks around Kimbolton need any help send me a pm and i'll be there.....
god bless you,
Steve
Tell Y'all what, my area fared pretty good. No outages in the imediate area. Trees are loaded down but I reckon the last two ice storms last year and heavy winds as well weeded out the ones that were likely to break. I really feel for all of you further north that is getting hit. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the mid 40's and 50's this weekend so all should thaw fairly quickly, I doubt y'all have that going for you :(. Good luck y'all and be safe.
Morgan
i managed to get another call through to home. One of the nieghbors had some chains and managed to get out and get gas for everyone, so generators are still good to go. Still no damage to the house. Lots of light damage to the out buildings. No injuries to the animals. Trees still breaking and falling. Looks like I'll be well set for fire wood next year by what Lindy tells me. She's saying that about 90% of the trees have been damaged , broken out tops, and such or just plain fell over. They can get down the drive now on the four wheeler, good nieghbor cleared the drive enough for that. Sorry if I keep going on about all this. It's driving me batty not being there to help out This kinda stuff is the worst part of my job.
LeeB
Yes, that has to be stressful, not being able to reach out to help, especially your family.
Sounds like they are managing....just that you will be owing a lot of neighbors when you'all get back home. But sure you can handle that.
Hope they continue to get along with the storm.
Keep us informed, please.
Yea, they're doing just fine. It's just frustrating. She's a tough ol'gal and is used to this kinda thing happening when I'm gone. never seems to happen when I'm home. As for the nieghbors, I guess it's just coming back around. I was the one out doing what needed doing after Ike passed through. Don't mean I don't apreciate just the same and thanks for your support also.
Well, I am back. The little generator I haven't used in ten years still works. 8) The power company is talking in terms of weeks to get all the lines back up. I just know they are pesimistic and we will have power tomorrow. ;D I don't think I will doing any woods walking until the trees stop falling. We are doing fine. We have wood heat and my J D tractor starts so I can feed the cows. I am so thankful that I don't still have all the piggies to contend with.
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We get our phone service from a subscriber loop carrier system which lost power. Batteries gave out Tuesday night so lost our landline service until they got generators going this morning. Now we lost cell service because most of the cell towers don't have a generator.
We are hoping they get a generator to the water pump station before the water tower goes dry.
After sawing our way out to the main road yesterday I went to town to get gasoline for our generator. In the entire town of Springdale...population of 40,000 or so, I found two working signal lights and two gas stations with electricity, but no gas. Not to fear...the McGiver in me hooked up our generator to the gas tank in the fishing boat which should have maybe 40 gallons or more. So much for fishing this weekend. ;D :D ;D
This is the worst ice storm I have ever seen...trees are still breaking...sounds like a gunshots going off every few minutes.
Our road to the outside world. The power line starts into the right-of-way here.
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The end of our power line...the rest is laying on the ground across the hollar. When the lead comes out of the right-of-way it hits a two track...that road is impassable for about a mile due to trees. Since were the end of the line maybe we will get power back on the middle of Feburary?
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Got broken limbs in someplaces up to 6' high. The forest looks far worse than if a twister had come through.
Glad we only have minor damage along with the resources to live through this like most other things life throws at ya.
Lets hear from other folks...and iffen ya need help let us know.
Bout time to turn the generator off...I'll try to post maybe a few more pics later.
Got a foot of snow yesterday.
snowblower has two broken belts but no fear neighbor has a chevy truck and plowed the drive so wife could get in then came back today and did a better job.
Belts on blower broke a couple days ago and had not gotten to get new ones. Have to get new ones today.
Thanks Alot Mr Mom
Apparently Lindy is getting a little wound up by all this. I called this morning @ 9:30 her time and she was sleeping on the couch. When I asked her what she was doing sleeping she very impolitely suggested I do quite impossible things to myself and hung up on me. >:( When I get brave enough, I'll try again.
Mary and I just returned from West Plains, Mo. We didn't see any significant ice until south of Cobol. As we got closer to West Plains, the ice became more prevalent. There was a lot of ice damaged in and just north of there. We saw several metal building that had collapsed and trees broken down on utility lines. Highway 63 was clear and mostly dry but the secondary roads were packed and the side streets looked in bad shape. All the businesses were working at cleaning up their lots.
Bruce Hardwoods was receiving but only had a skeleton crew. Lumber everywhere in all stages of processing – covered with snow and ice. We only saw two people. One guy came from the main office to check in our load. Then we went to unload and waited until somebody came from somewhere and started up a loader and unloaded us. This is not our normal experience. Normally it's like a beehive of activity.
The guy that checked us in said that most of the people that worked there were still without power.
To get out of our drive we had to saw through seven spots. They were easy were a big tree fell across the drive. Really tough with the little trees as the twigs are froze down in 2" of ice. Pushing the trees out with a tractor makes a mess...we thought the best way was to just saw through all.
Typical one here.
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Kathy walked up to check the mail little bit ago...with the bright sunshine and thawing we had this afternoon we have two more spots to saw through in the morning.
They are getting power restored on the major highways and in town but in the country its getting worse. I was going to help the neighbor saw himself out on his road this afternoon but he called and said forget it...to much wood falling.
Help is on the way the last two days on I-30 there have been a line of power trucks going north .They are form Texas, LA. & south Arkansas.
On our way back north, we meet two tractor trailer loads of big generators heading south.
Yesterday the news media was saying all power would be restored by tomorrow. This morning they are being realistic and saying most power should be restored in two weeks. I think hardest hit was Harrison Arkansas with 2" of ice. Harrison is about 60 miles east of me and 60 or so miles west of LeeB and Arkie.
Lowes sold a semi load of 186 generators in 30 minutes yesterday. Our downtown airport is still on generator power.
Folks are being stupid...fire department pulled 10 unconscious from carbon monoxide out of a garage where a charcoal barbecue was being used for heat.
This living without power company power is not so bad after one gets use to it. ::) There are some down sides though. I get cold going into our large walk in freezer ( unheated sunroom) to get food and it is cold going out in the morning to the outbuilding to gas up and turn on the generator. My little generator is not large enough to start the water pump, so I have to draw water out of the cistern with a rope. The rope sure gets cold and ice covered after a few minutes. If I didn't have the cows I think it would be a good time to visit one of our southern members for a few days. Maybe it would be better to visit several members for only a day each. :D Got to go now before the generator runs out of gas. :(
I was witness to the the ice storm that hit about 10 years ago up in norhtern NY, and into Ontario. We were bound for Lake Palcid to ice climb (vertical), saw thousands of trucks staging poles at Martin Marietta in Syracuse NY and power co. trucks from all over the country, as well as numerous tracked power line drilling vehicals (supposedly everyone from east of the Mississippi) converging. The swampy and mountaianous terrain made the tracked units a must. An amazing site to see all that man power and capital equipment mustered.
Ironwood
We're not quite 60 miles from Harrison, only about 20 as the crow flies. Lindy says Harrison seems to be pretty much shut down. She tried to find a hotel room so her and Paul could take a real bath and shower. No one answers the phones there. No gas to had anywhere close. Hotels are booked up anywhere within decent range. Temps supposed to get up into the fifties tommorow. She is going to try and get out then. Mountainhome is up and running. Maybe they can get gas there.
Well im back also. Been stuck in a hotel for the last few days. Still no power at the house. We went to a friends house today that got power back so we could free up a room at the hotel for someone else. We was at their house for 20 minutes and they lost power again! We was out of there in a flash we are now at another friends house she has not lost power yet so hopefully she wont. With a 7 month old i am not taking any risk. I made it to the house today i had to take a friend with me so i could cut all the trees out of the road. There are trees everywere snapped in half. Buildings on top of sawmills They saw this is the worst ice storm in at least 2 decades. It will be a few more days till i can get back power at the house i am just lucky i have had a place to go warm. So many have not.
We have a nephew and his family outside Harrison...they are holed up with inlaws...now a family of eight in a small but warm house. There road is blocked to town. Kathy tried to call them couple times this afternoon to check on the situation...but cell phone service is still iffy.
The Governor and party flew into Fayetteville this morning in two Black Hawk choppers. Spent 30 minutes and off to Mountain Home than Jonesborro. Seems they could have made more productive use of the choppers by dropping off supplies. Guess I don't see the big picture.
The good news is the sun came out bout 1PM and melted all the ice off the trees. Most roads are dry and clear. Country roads are still really slick but should thaw tomorrow.
Just made my afternoon call to Lindy. Her and the boy made it out and into town today. They managed to get a couple cans of gas and a meal. They checked into a motel and took showers and got cleaned up, then the power went out in the motel so they checked back out and went home. No sence paying to be cold in a motel when there's a warm fire and TV (generator, just not enough to pull the well) at home. Lots of power lines still down but the calvery has arrived and are workiing to get it all back up. She sounded in much better spirits today. I recon the fever broke. Will still most likely be a while before the get electricity back. We live at the end of the line. They saw several trucks, but all the pole trucks were empty. That may be the biggest hold up. She saw my youngest dayghter while they were in Yellville. She lives in another town about 40miles away. They never did lose power there. Lucky devil.
Which way outside Harrison, Larry? The daughter lives iin Greenforest. We're in Pyatt, just a little east of Harrison.
Lee, what kind of genset and what kind of pump ya got there?
Well, help is on the way. Yesterday I had to drive north on I 35 and saw two semi loads of power poles heading south. There is a couple of pole and post companies north of the twin cities and this storm will probably clean them out. Maybe they will have to start buying pine again.
Mary and I went over to Columbia, Mo today on business. We seen a convoy of electric utility trucks heading east on I70. Mary questioned why they were heading east. I mentioned that the area from St. Louis to the boot hill was hit hard and by going east on I70, they could turn south on I 55 and be right where they were needed.
I don't need any poles, I need wire. The wire is down in two places just along my private drive. The wire just broke from the weight of the ice, no trees on the wires. My neighbor said that the wires are down on his farm also. Must be that cheap Chinese wire they installed back about 1950. :D
Wow Larry, those pics were awesome fearsome. I really sympathize with y'all for having to deal with all the mess that the ice has made. Be careful clearing out the road, and keep us posted.
WH, its a 6000watt genset and the well pump is 1/2hp 220volt. It pulls 6amps. I figure the genny will pull the well just fine but Lindy is always scared to death that something will go wrong and burn up the pump or it won't be wired right and burn down the house or some other such so I just leave it alone. If I remember right 220v x 6amps = 1320watts. No load at all for the genny.
I haven't seen any pictures of home. Lindy won't plug the computer in to the generator either. Much easyer to humor her than incur her wrath.
Quote from: LeeB on January 30, 2009, 07:40:42 PM
Which way outside Harrison, Larry? The daughter lives iin Greenforest. We're in Pyatt, just a little east of Harrison.
There northeast of Harrison a little bit on Hwy 7. They can get to town now and have reliable cell service but were told yesterday they may not get power back for 3 weeks.
Lee, just think if something did burn up, within the next 6 months. Ya would still be to blame. :D
LeeB, I am running a 6000watt( maybe next time I will read the owners manual) 4000watt generator and it won't start my 1/2 hp pump. It is a shallow well pump so I can hear the motor try to start, but just not enough starting amps to get the motor started. :( Tried to get the wife to go down to the creek to take a bath, but she grew up a city girl and made me take her to her mother's for a shower. The ice is only two inches thick on the creek, she could have broken it if she had really tried. ;)
Six months, ha. I'm still catching it for things I did 30 years ago. :D
I am back up at the sawmill. I am on the main highway and just power back last night. It was to cold to start the computer. 8) 8) 8) 8)
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It only took me two hours to saw my way out 2 miles to the highway. I had about 15 people helping pull limbs but it seems I was the only one with a running chain saw and gas.
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This is the new "smoke house I was building for the guys. The large limb just missed it and the outhouse.
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This is the new pump house here at the mill the other was crushed. I had to replumb just about everything and fix the busted off pressure swith from the pressure tank. Then I had to replace the pipes in the outhouse after they froze and busted.
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We are going to need about 500 poles according to Entergy and there are over 1,900 lines down. It will be another week or two before we have power at home. I live on a mountian and just about do not have a tree left standing. I have two on a hunting truck of mine and several on the house and barn. Fences are down but we pulled all the live stock in so they are close. Most of the stems are cracked and split. There is going to be a large loss of timber here. Most of mine will not be fit to saw. But it will make it easier to make firewood out of. NOW WHERE IS FEMA? ???
Quote from: ARKANSAWYER on January 31, 2009, 12:04:00 PMNOW WHERE IS FEMA? ???
Don't worry, Obama will save you. ;D Glad you are okay and back up and running. Sad news about all the timber lost.
Quote from: ARKANSAWYER on January 31, 2009, 12:04:00 PM
NOW WHERE IS FEMA? ???
There all over here in comfortable headquarters making really big plans to help us out and improve our lifestyle...I'll be more than happy to point em in your direction just to get em out of our town. ;D
BTW, nice pictures...keep your chin up. :)
Hey, Lee my nephew's generator won't start there pump either. They found a new use for the swimming pool...its used to provide water for the flush toilets. I don't need to worry bout those problems...flush toilets or swimming pools. :D :D :D
I know that ice is miserable and tears things up, but to us, in Florida, your pictures are beautiful. Thanks.
The top four will make great post cards. Too bad you didn't have a Santa hat to hang from the sign. It would have made a great Christmas Card.
Larry, Lindy is using the water in the hot tub for the same thing.
The national guard showed up in Kentucky, but someone forgot to tell them to bring chainsaws. Worst power outages ever.
Tom, it is amazing how a disaster can be so beautiful.
In early December, this last month, we had a bad ice storm in NH, and MA.
Here at the sawmill office, everything was fine, power ok .....
Go 15 miles north to my house, and it was like the end of the world..... trees down everywhere, and power out......
We lost power at 11:30 pm on Thursday night.
I had to drive down here and get my generator and go back home with it.
Got it all hooked up and running by 1:30am.....
It ran steady until noon time the following Tuesday.......
Put some 34 gallons of gas through it.....
Not something I want to do again, but I was glad I had my house set up to take the power from the generator and keep us going.....
Jim Rogers
FEMA was here in '01, after the flood. 17 homes were destroyed, FEMA bought out 7 of them, the 7 familys that did not wark. The ones that worked for a living got nothing.
Larry, LeeB, & Arkansawyer,
It seems like about every 10 years y'all get a devastating ice storm in that area of the country. Hunker down. At least there will be plenty of fresh logs to cut.
Looks like it could be a long haul. They're saying 4-6 weeks before they get power back to the house.
Lee, we heard 8 to 12 weeks after Katrina, ended up being 17 days. Y'all hang in there.
I dont know were i can get a total of people without power but i know its in the 100 thousands. I heard around 500 thousand but am sure there is more. Some people were lucky and never lost power. My granpa and grandma didnt and thank the man up stairs on that. My grandma cant get out of a bed for the last year and her health is real bad. I went and cleared out their driveway yesterday for them so grandpa could get out. My mom was on her way over to watch my grandma so grandpa could help me I busted my but getting it done before she got there so he didnt half to help me. I am going to go over and clean the rest up for him soon as i can. He has always been there for me time to return the favors. My Uncle had a building fall in at his mill its on top of there pendu machine and cut off line. My cousin had just took it over also bad luck for him.
I have all kinds of work to clean up around the house but That will come last. I am wondering what the patch of lobolly i am cutting looks like if it looks like some of the trees around here i am going to have a mess to clean up.
We have a population of around 21,000 in Marion County and Wednesday there was about 19,000 with out power. By Friday we were down to around 12,000. Some places will take another week or so. I figure LeeB's wife will be up by Wednesday this week. I saw an Entergy truck out our way this morning. If they would get out of town and just drive around they could find work. Most of the time you see 15 to 20 trucks just sitting around just waiting for someone to point them the right way. Signs are down and most roads are just passable. We spent most of yesterday just clearing our driveway. I fixed several down feed lines to local homes so when the power comes back it will get hooked up. Lots of weatherheads pulled loose from homes and wire pulled from the fuse at the pole.
Still have not seen FEMA.
We got our power back yesterday evening. We got by pretty well as far as I have been able to see. We lost a new calf and have a milkcow down on the ice that probably won't recover. I havn't been to the pine plantation yet. If we still have some, at least there will be a good market for them.
While we had the generator at the house a couple of days ago (we used it during the day, between milkings) the TV said they needed volunteers in our county (Ozark) to help clear roads. My son in law works for the forest service and is being sent somewhere east of here to help clean up storm damage.
I finally got the wife's car up on a level road to where she can get to town. It's amazing how much a warm house, a hot shower, and some warm food improves the disposition of a woman ;)
I was starting to worry about you Bro Noble. Fixing to get in the truck and see if I could cut my way in there. Figgured all your stupid cows slid down to the bottom of the holler and you was just milking them down there and making ice cream.
Thanks for the thought Arky. We havn't tried to go south yet. Wife wanted to go to Gainesville the other day till she heard on the battery radio that Gainesville was completely shut down. We couldn't get the car out of the drive till today anyway ::)
The electric company truck came up our road today while I was out feeding the stoopid cows. 8) But it was only a pickup and they were only looking for downed wires. :( He told the wife that the wires were down between the house and the county road. Duh, seems we already called them about the wires. They informed the wife that they were going to disconnect our branch circuit from the main line so the others on the road could get power, but didn't know when they would come back to repair the line to our house. smiley_crying
Hopefully tomorrow ???.
Instead of watching the weather forecast on the TV we watch the electricity forecast. Chance of electricity this week...slim to none. Next week...anything is possible. >:( Our power company CEO is so popular he even called a press conference yesterday to let us know how much progress they are making. :o
Lindy has no idea when they'll have power back. There were a few trucks in the close area Monday, but now they have all gone to surrounding towns. She was an unhappy camper when I called.
Well this morning Entergy said that there were 4,500 places with out power in Marion County this morning, a week after the storm hit. LOTS and LOTS of power company trucks just sitting around and driving up and down the highway. Using up the fuel and all the hotel rooms in the area as well as keeping the local restaurants full.
No power at home yet so we are camping big time. We have wood heat and I now have my gen set back so we can power up and run the well. I had to loan my gen set out to some folks who would not have any heat with out power to run their gas furnace.
I am on the computer and I don't hear the hum of the generator. 8) 8) I guess that means either I have lost all hearing or we have our power back on. ;) Just when I was getting used to not having electricity, they turn it back on and spoil me again. ::)
Pigman:
How many days were you out?
Jim
Our power company got an additional 342 lineman today to help out. They were saying most folks would have power by this weekend but with the additional help they said most folks will have power by February 15th. smiley_headscratch
On the bright side Kathy made a bunch of new friends today. She took our laundry into the laundromat and met all kind of powerless people. Together they figured out how to operate those quarter hungry machines. Almost $30 for a weeks worth of laundry. >:(
My job for tomorrow is to figure out how to wire the electric hot water heater into the generator...DanG...I've sorta been enjoying giving Kathy a sponge bath. smiley_devil bath_smiley ;D
WOW larry got any pitchures you know how we love them. :D ;D ;). On to another subject now.
I went down and looked at the patch of lobollly i am cutting well i have a bunch of steams left over. I think i am going to be clear cutting the whole tract. I have never imagined that much devistation in my life. I will be getting some pitchures of this soon as i make it back. I think in the areas i have already thinned back to 250 trees per acrea there are around 100 and less. I called the landowner and left a message. Cant waite to find out whats going to happen on this job next. I already said this is the most jinxed job i have been on. Must be cause its in Arkansas. ;).
Just playing.
No telling when we will get electricity. Lindy went to the daughters apt. this morning and took a shower. On the way back, there was an Entergy truck blocking the dirt road to the house. Nobody doing anything, just sitting and flapping thier gums. Wouldn't even move thier lazy a$$&$ to let her get by. She put the ole Dodge in 4wheel, blasted around them, and then backed up and proceeded to chew hiney. May be a while yet before we get lights back.
Jim, we were out of power company power for 7 days 10 hours and 10 minutes, but who is counting. :D It is nice not to have to carry buckets of water in this 15° F temperature.
semologger don't be too hasty on that loblolly thicket. If the trees aren't broke, just bent over, sometimes they will straighten back up. Lots of mine did, the ones that didn't, I cut.
that was from the ice storm we had here couple of years back...
How long did it take them to straighten up? All the ice is off the trees and most are bent at a 90 degree angle.
Larry, just lie with a straight face and say the generator won't pull the water heater.
Oh, and has been said before, we like pictures. :D :D
I wish we could send Kathy a message to see if she really know what Larry says on here! :D
This was my Driveway. I didnt like cutting those trees. When you cut the tops loose from the ice the trees would spring up about 8 foot. Talk about taking your head off. Im just glad i didnt have a long ways to go.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/15209/1586/storm_damage_09_002%7E0.jpg)
WooHoo. Lindy has power at last. She saw a crew on the road yesterday and stopped to talk to them. They were from central Texas where we came from. They told her at 2 -3 more days still. She went to the liquor store and bought a few various types of lubrication for them just for being around to help. Power was on in 2hours. Sometimes greasing the wheel helps.
Similar experience as Lee during our last ice storm...the crews were tired, so we took them some refreshments. Learned that they needed to quit as they were out of sharp chains and saw gas. Neighbor and I offered our saws and told them where the line was down. They came right away and had us up and running with power in less than an hour. They seemed very happy to help us out, and said they were done in this area and wouldn't be back anymore....was going to be up to a different crew to finish up. ::) ::) That was after being out of power for 7 days.
Good to hear your family is back with power...now time for you to come home for your rest... ;D ;D ;D
Beenthere, I'm relatively new at posting but have been reading these forums for years. I really enjoy the talk of helping crews out like that, and of helping others when needed. I know we used to help the public out whenever we could, regardless to whether it was our job or not. When I was up in the UP, especially in the winter, you just did not pass by someone that needed help. No asking was necessary, it's just what folks did. And it always seemed to be paid forward. The way we looked at it was the taxpayer was paying us Coasties, and if there was something we could do to help them, we did it. Didn't matter if it was our responsibility or if it didn't fit our "job description". We lived in the community, we did whatever we could to help. Even helped rebuild a bar that burned down one time, just because we could help. Heck, what else were we gonna do? The lake was frozen, no need for us on the water in the winter, and we had lots of bodies available to help. 'Course, sailors and bars kinda go together. But that wasn't the reason. And it wasn't just in our communities, did the same things when on the road too.
Kind of a long winded way to say thanks; yes it might of had a benefit for you, but I bet the crew really appreciated the consideration and the end of a long hard day. Good to see folks lookin out for each other.
LeeB, thats a smart lady...you have any trouble keeping up with her? ;D
We got our power back few hours ago...feel like I won the lottery as lot of folks still out.
Don't I wish BT. Stilll got 2 more weeks to go. Afraid there won't be much rest this time around either. Sounds like I got my work cut out for me this time off.
She went to the liquor store and bought a few various types of lubrication for them just for being around to help. Power was on in 2hours. Sometimes greasing the wheel helps.
[/quote]
My crews were in the Mountain Home area and from what they have been telling me that wasn't lubrication you wife provided, it was anti-freeze.
It's been quite an event. Numbers I've seen on damage are extensive. 4,883 utility poles down or severely damaged by the ice storm, 14,498 spans of distribution wire were down, 712 distribution transformers damaged, 4,253 crossarms were damaged, and 3,162 individual service lines requiring repair and more than 5,000 out of state linemen, field support personnel and tree trimmers have responded.
The linemen have had there work cut out for them thats for sure. Thanks to these haed working guys we have power again. I wouldnt want to be in thier shoes they have been going non stop here in Mo. Hang in there LeeB hopefully you will be able to pay that electric bill soon enough. Just think of it this way your bill will be cheap this month. Congrats on getting power back on guys.
Oh how nice to have power at home again. Wife is such a pleasure right now.
Here is my Bronco. The pine came up by the root ball and just laid on the truck. It is up by several feet now. There is a hickory broken off laying on top of that. then there are several others tops laying around. The truck is un hurt and if the trash was cut out behind it I could just drive it out right now.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC04100f.JPG)
Lots of trees on the place look like this. They are just splinterd to the ground.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC04101f.JPG)
When I do have trees still standing, they are missing their tops. Most will bush out and keep growing if the stems are not broken. Next fall will be a real fire hazzard here.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC04102f.JPG)
With all the debris. I'm thinking flooding on the creeks might be bad in the spring.
With possible heavy rains next week Rogers, Springdale, (especially) and Fayetteville are very concerned about flooding right now.
I have a bunch of trees that just fell over from the weight of the ice. In one place it looks like dominoes where 10 trees fell.
Typical one here...white oak and looked like only one of the top limbs was cracked before it fell. I'm gonna have to study up on how to cut down? these sort of trees.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/Down_tree.jpg)
Larry we cut a job like that after a twister hit here one time. It was a mess the saws keep on getting pinched. My guy cutting had 30 something years experiance he knew what he was doing. Also the stumps would spring up and land back in the whole. Once we got that job done we didnt even ask for any more.
The ground is so wet now anymore rain and most of the trees will prob be falling if we get any wind.
Larry
There is only one way to cut trees like that, VERY CAREFULLY. Watch out. Those trees are how people get killed.
Stonebroke
Finally made it home last Thursday night. Damage not as bad as I expected. A lot of tops out, but most of the trees should survive. I been cutting dowm trees around the house for the last three days, well ok, hard and heavy since yesterday. Most of those were ok, but Lindy wants everything that can fall on the house gone. We were pretty lucky. No damage to te house or buildings to speak of. Our biggest worry now is fire. there wil be plent off fuel come fire season. I could probably get a lot more done if I didn't pull out every saw log and go saw it up as soon as it's down. :D
That is the best way to do it Lee. If you pile up the logs till the messed is cleaned up the will have stained by then. Also if you are getting pretty wood it makes you want to go get another log. The logs will keep better standing then bunked waiting to be sawed.
Found some storm damage to the house yesterday. :( Seems that it happened right after the tree I was sawing did a piroette and crashed the hand rail on the porch. >:( Good thing it wasn't three feet longer. it would haveing taken out the kitchen window too. It started out falling the right way and then did a spin on the stump and fell 90* out.
Sometimes porch rails have wood magnets in them :).
Quote from: WDH on February 24, 2009, 08:21:31 AM
Sometimes porch rails have wood magnets in them :).
I'm interested to learn just how you came across that tidbit of information, Danny. Is that something they teach in Forestry School? :P ;D
No. I learned that one from the School of Hard Knocks :D.
Enjoy these ice storms and cold weather while it lasts. The experts from Princeton and Stanford and around the world are saying that global warming is occuring faster and will cause damage at lower levels than they previously thought. Soon we'll all be taking lessons from Jim in Peru on growing tropical trees and all this ice will be a distant memory.
Well that is good news! 8) Soon I will have ocean front property!
Well thated be fine by me , I am about ready for some palm trees and a visite from Tom And DanG , 8)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/is5.jpg)
The towns are making great progress with storm clean up. Should have most of the mess gone by middle of April. Some of the cleanup contractors got the job not because they were the low bidder but because they knew what FEMA requires.
Larry is making quite slow progress cleaning up...anybody want free firewood? :D :D
I got the head gasket hopefully repaired on the backhoe today so my
cleanup efforts should resume shortly. I still need to hook up a
couple things and put some water in it and see if it runs out. ::)
Well, the backhoe is repaired and cleanup continues...
Dad and I cleaned up a rent house lot and returned home and
dropped the rest of the trees to come down and got a couple stumps
out before dark. I was pushing most of a tree to the road when the
neighbor came over to talk with Dad. He's been using an atv with a
trailer to move limbs to the road. Told Dad we were cheating.
Somehow I'm ok with that. Dad offered our services but he declined.
I guess he didn't want ruts in his yard. I'll just fix ours when it drys up
a bit. 'Twas a good day today.
Machines are fun.
Glad you all came through ok, makes our ice storm up here in Maine seem not so bad. I was working the night our ice storm happened, the storm took out the power at work and then the generator failed so it was pitch black inside and out. I left work at 2 am and drove home, there was ice on everything causing the trees to fall into the road, I passed one tree blocking the whole road with just enough room for me to squeeze by in my car, but an 18 wheeler going the other way was stuck. due to it being night there were trees on the road that could take out your tires if not careful, I passed one guy with his flashers on standing by his car, right after that I saw a large tree in the road that you couldn't see till the last min. I got out and moved the tree, and then went back to help him change his tire. we were at the end of a driveway and the home owner came down in the middle of the tire change to help, he went back to get a tire pump and came back saying he couldn't find it and he was going back into his house as a tree had almost killed him when he came back down.
just as we were getting back into our cars a large tree fell across the road just in front of the guys car, I said " boy I bet you're glad you stopped here and not there!" we jumped in our cars and drove away fast to the sound of more cracking trees.
I had bought a generator back in Oct, after five days on it we got power back, our neighbors across the street have all electric so they had no heat, I offered them my kerosene heater but they said no, they spent the two coldest nights in a hotel instead. I thought we might not get power back before Christmas, but we did. the Hospitals and businesses get power first, then neighborhoods, then individual houses. The last house to get power back was on the 17th of January. I think most people up here are prepared as we had a big ice storm up here back in '96 that knocked out power for weeks.
My other neighbor across the street just got a generac unit installed in the fall, he never noticed the power was out, even had his dusk to dawn lights and everything.