Terrible Winter Storms Lash the Eastern U.S.

[MA-Caver]

I wonder how many MT-ers are affected and if they're alright. I've lived under similar conditions... no power, no heat... it totally sucks.

Thousands may face frigid, lightless nights ahead

By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press Writer Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press Writer – 37 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_re_us/winter_stormLOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than a million homes and businesses left in the cold without power Thursday in the wake of an icy winter storm could face a lengthy wait for electricity to come back, even as federal help was promised to two states hit hardest by the blast.
Late Wednesday, President Barack Obama signed requests from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations. Crews — even the National Guard in Kentucky — worked around the clock to resurrect power lines downed by thick ice in both states. Officials in states from Oklahoma to West Virginia fought to do the same.
Utility officials estimated more than 1.3 million homes and businesses across a wide swath of states were powerless early Thursday, and warned it could be mid-February before some customers had power.
The storm has been blamed for at least 23 deaths so far. Kentucky officials Thursday added two that they called weather-related: A woman who died while an ambulance on the way to her was blocked by impassable roads and a woman who fell on her basement stairs while she was retrieving a kerosene heater.

This is another challenge for Obama and how quickly FEMA will be organized to help those folks. It's one thing to be rendered helpless via a summer's hurricane, if anything at least you can still sleep without fear of not waking up. But in the icy grips of such frigid temperatures... hypothermia is a silent killer and many die without realizing it. You get so cold that all you wanna do is just sleep, blissful deep sleep... then you go into a coma and die. You have to keep your core body temp at or above 98.0 (the extremities can be colder than that) or you'll find yourself in serious trouble.
It'd be easy after a week or two of being "used" to going to bed really cold that certain life essential percautions are overlooked or ignored or simply forgotten.

One would imagine that by the end of this crisis... the pregnacy rate is going to be higher than usual. :uhyeah:

 

[arnisador]

We got 10" last night and have bad roads but have been pretty lucky overall.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Got about 10" on top of the over a foot we already have at my house and at my office we got about 1" of ice. Luckily no power issues. But I am North/Eastern US and we are pretty use to this type of stuff here.

 

[MA-Caver]

Got about 10" on top of the over a foot we already have at my house and at my office we got about 1" of ice. Luckily no power issues. But I am North/Eastern US and we are pretty use to this type of stuff here.

So you weren't affected by the ice-storm then? Just lots of snow?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Missed us here in the north of Michigan. Sorry for everyone else affected!

 

[arnisador]

An ice storm was threatened here but never materialized (luckily). Prior to Xmas we had a bad one.

 

[Xue Sheng]

So you weren't affected by the ice-storm then? Just lots of snow?

Where I work got the ice storms but only about an inch at my house all it was all snow. The only effect it seemed to have was travel was a bit treacherous but we did not get any of the power issues this time.

Last time however we got hit pretty hard by it but not so much at my house. My sifu was out of power for over 2 weeks the last time as were a few other people I know. But this time we had no major issues

 

[Carol]

The ice storm before Christmas was far worse than this one.

 

[Steve]

Stay safe everyone. I remember well the windstorms we had a few years back that left us without power for over a week. It was rough.

 

[grydth]

An ice storm was threatened here but never materialized (luckily). Prior to Xmas we had a bad one.

The ice hit the most southern part of Indiana... my wife was without power from 1 AM to about 8 PM, and there appear to be about 50,000 still out as of about half an hour ago.

Here in CNY we luckily missed the ice part and got the "usual" snow of 8 to 10 inches.

 

[grydth]

The ice storm before Christmas was far worse than this one.

Patience, patience.... there is supposedly a N'or Easter coming next Tuesday to bring us all that this tiny storm did not.....

 

[Gordon Nore]

Patience, patience.... there is supposedly a N'or Easter coming next Tuesday to bring us all that this tiny storm did not.....

We've been remarkably lucky here. Fifteen cm yesterday; another fifteen plus coming Monday. Nothing like NE USA. Drive slow, stay safe.

 

[David Weatherly]

I've been through it before, hope everyone is safe.

 

[arnisador]

The ice hit the most southern part of Indiana...

Here in Terre Haute it was snow this time, but bad ice pre-Xmas.

Here in CNY we luckily missed the ice part and got the "usual" snow of 8 to 10 inches.

Heh, I remember when I lived in Syracuse...

 

[grydth]

Evansville got it so bad that even the <gasp> universities closed!! Once I was sure she was okay, the wife heard plenty of jokes about that.

 

[arnisador]

Heh, I work at the only college in T.H. that didn't close...and I had to teach an 8AM class!