OT major ice storm, north georgia, small report

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---what started out as first nice snow of the season deteriorated into a major ice storm. Most north georgia counties declared disaster area. Mostly from downed power lines from falling tree limbs, etc. Lot of debris in roads reported. electric out all over. Brain dead clueless "survival" experts from georgia power on the radio giving folks advice that is even more basic than survival 101. We're cruising on battery/inverter power here, so have limited time online. Phones obviously stayed up. Latest word where we are is a coupla days maybe before grid juice. Extreme rural gets last call on repairs. Storm is comparable to storm of centruy 93, or last hurricane opal several years ago. Thousands of thrill seeker shills for higher insurance rates out being macho driving. Some emergency driving is necessary, but for most, it's just misguided. The roads are strange, they can be clear for awhile, go around a corner and glare ice. HAHAHAHAHA have no idea of amount of accidents, a bunch. We've switched to "conserve juice and propane" mode. Running perpetual pot of soup on top of propane stove for heat right now, as it uses less propane. Cover two bases that way, eating and heat.

Besides that, it's beautiful. Looks like Dr. Zhivago movie here.

Will update occassionally. Am going to cross post this small report.

-- zog (zzogy@yahoo.com), January 23, 2000

Answers

See also

http://greenspun.com/bboard/admin-q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002OJC

-- buns (frozen@off.here), January 23, 2000.


zog, aren't ya glad you preped?

-- gomer (gnomer@dot.com), January 23, 2000.

Hey zog, Your storm is headed our way. Sure sounds warm and cozy at your place. Nice to have all that comfyness, huh!

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 23, 2000.

Yep-must be having that 3 day storm they always said to prepare for.HA HA Nice to wake up this morning and have no power or heat. Power went off around 5:30 this morning here in north Georgia-over 300,000 without power in Gwinnett county. Thankfully ours was restored at noon. I am so thankful to have preps on hand and hubby even appreciated that camp stove perculator!! :-)

-- (I Believe (Repent@time is now.com)), January 23, 2000.

---update: power still out. Dozens of heavy trees and limbs down all over immediate area on dirt roads. Used precious batt juice in well experiment, hot wired pressure tank and pump. success! Only ran it for a minute to check function. we have stored water, etc. always prepped. Yes, mucho nice to have backups! RV has redundant 12 volt dc circuits, as soon as 110 vac goes out, dc takes over. Still have lights, can run puter, switched to very small 12v tv, etc. Kinda fun, really. Have heard this county has folks going to shelters. Not sure who, maybe elderly or invalided, as most people have propane, kero and woodstoves, etc. Our rv rig is small, the pot of soup going on the stove is keeping it warm in here, and we have a backup tank I can install, too, just means swapping some connections and hoses, etc, if need be. Latest word is maybe two days till power, but who knows, it could come back up anytime, but tonight looks like more freezing, so more trees down probably.

--an aside, will be putting out feed for the deer and wild birds, and crack open their drinking areas.

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), January 23, 2000.



There was an ice storm here (PNW) in '93 that left 100,000 + homes without power...anywhere from a few days up to 2 weeks. My home was one of the unlucky...no power for 12 days. I had no alternate heating or lighting source (with temps hovering around 16 degrees). Many people were forced, by necessity, to go to hastily set-up Red Cross shelters in school gymnasiums. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford a hotel (and they were price gouging...weasels!). After that, and this is hard for even me to believe, I took no precautions against future disruptions.

More recently, severe winds took some power out locally. As I watched my lights flicker on and off a few times, I was so grateful that any repeat of '93 would find me safe, warm, comfortable and well-fed in my own home. Thank you Y2K for getting my butt in gear, and thank you TB2000 for helping me learn what, and how, to prepare safely, reliably and cost-effectively.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), January 23, 2000.


Zog, thanks for keeping us informed on what's going on in your neck of the woods. Take care and stay warm.

P.S. Thanks for taking care of the kritters outside.

-- Lurkess (Lurkess@Lurking.Net), January 24, 2000.


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