If any of you live in the 200,000 to 300,000 homes that have been and still are with out power due to the icing situation. I bet you are glad you prepared for Y2K. Now you can utilize your preps. Any good stories out there?

-- Anne in TN (imnot@work.com), January 23, 2000

Answers

yup sho nuff the statpower 2500 watt inverter powering the house except for the heat blower motor (220 ) and the fridge. If the power stays off more than six hours, I will give up beer room in the 12vdc refridgerator and fill from the kitchen fridge.

-- plain 'ol joe (kennesaw@ga.net), January 23, 2000.

You might not get a whole lot of responses until the power comes back on around there...

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), January 23, 2000.

Yes-quite chilly here this morning in north Georgia. Power went off about 5:30 in the morning. I was really glad to be prepped for that 3 day storm they told us about. HA HA

Gave the kiddos an experience of whats its like without power. Oldest told younger sister you can't have hot cocoa because the microwave doesn't work!! Hubby really appreciated having that camp stove perculator this morning! He was a sorta DGI.

Mother's home is surrounded by woods-had top of evergreen tree fall on top of the car and another tree fell on the roof and tore down section of guttering. Many trees down in our area but we were warm and toasty and stocked! Thankfully power restored by noon and I was able to get my TB2000 fix.

I truly believe that we have prepared for much more than just Y2K but for any number of things that can turn up unexpectedly in the future.

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

Friends of ours in Atlanta were not preparing for Y2K, but after we suggested they at least prepare for a week, they purchased batteries, candles, extra food and water. This morning, we got a call from them and they said "Sure are glad we had our Y2K stuff!"

-- jeile (tjfarrar@bellsouth.net), January 23, 2000.

Got up this mornin in Icy North Ga. Lit my Aladdin lamp so I could see to stoke my woodstove. Was a toasty 80 degrees thanks to the old wood burner.

I did have to pull my propane stove out of storage and use my non-electric coffee pot, but did not have to worry about running out of propane. Have kept the tank full since summer.

By the time the coffee pot was empty, the power crew came up the drive. Power was back on before I had time to fire up the genny.

It is very comforting not to be in a panic when services fail for any reason. We will always keep a full pantry from now on (we like only having to grocery shop once a month to replenish our stocks).

With the power down, no water from the well until the generator is running, but only had to go to a water barrel to get all we needed.

We have spent the time and money preparing, and it will cost very little to stay at this level.

We.....hope for the best, but plan for the worst!

-- Glad I Prepared (Herenow@doin.it), January 23, 2000.

we're 40 miles ne of atlanta. trees down. power lines down. ga power says may be 3 days or more before they get everybody back up. thanks to y2k, we have propane space heaters & stove, food, alladin lamps, and bottled water. also propane refrigerator. thanks to y2k and this forum, we're in good shape. thanks to you all (except stupid pollies) for the excellent info over the last few months.

-- ribbitt (kermitrbt@aol.com), January 23, 2000.

Here in North Georgia the ice storm is really bad. I sat on the porch for 20-25 minutes this morning and heard at least 30 trees or large limbs snap and fall in the woods. There were only 8 cars that went by during that time and the area has grown so much that ususally there is a constant stream of cars.

It is mid afternoon now and still very frozen outside. The roads are clearing in our area but some areas north of me are still bad. At one point this morning there were over 400,000 people in the Atlanta metro and north area without power. Some phones are down also. Trees are crashing through people homes. One woman was trapped in her apt. when a tree crashed through. Very scary stuff. I have checked my big oak, walnuts and pecans around my house earlier but they seem to be ok except maybe one pecan is leaning a bit to much. Five or six counties have been declared disaster areas by the governor.

It got so cold two days ago, low 20's, wind chill -3, that our hot water froze and the septic tank pipe line that sits exposed due to boulders being under it froze so we can not flush. (very old house no regulations on such when they installed it over 60 years ago) We have for two days been using a large plastic pail with black garbage bags in it, sprinkle with baking soda between use, took toilet seat off bathroom toilet and that is our current toilet. ---- Be glad you did not have Y2K problems at the rollover as it is not at all pleasant to use.--- The lid keeps falling off when you stand up or if you do not place "your" seat just so when sitting the toilet seat slides off before you sit; you have to be at the right angle then straight down, with no sliding back on it or anything :-( a pain! Hard for children to manage. If I had to do this for long term I would build a cabinet to place the pail in so it would be more stable. At least the hot water thawed yesterday so we got baths.

Used some of my stored salt for the steps so they would thaw. Still have canned food and water, if the power does go then the well will not pump, but since we were fortunate and did not lose power that has not been a problem.

Thing is the weather reports say we are going to get blasted with another maybe larger storm on Thurday. If it comes so close to this one it will be very bad. Firewood is scarce now.

Praying alot :-) here.

obo

-- Obo (susanwater@excite.com), January 23, 2000.

Near the perimeter, NE corner -- power went out about 3 AM -- 3rd fl. apt. so loses heat very slowly. Used the Coleman to cook breakfast, used the Baygen to hear other people talking to the radio stations. Several accidents on the highways, esp. on elevated sections which iced up quickly. Traffic signals all inoperative of course. The north GA "mountains" pretty badly hit, more precip, much colder, more steep grades.

We took a walk around the complex, finding many large branches down from the weight of the ice. Everything sticking up above ground was heavily iced -- and still is -- 5:30 PM.

Power came back on for us about 2 PM. Drove over the the nearby Publix then just to see what was happening. All the freezer aisles were barricaded & unavailable, I suppose to avoid any liability (power having been off for about 11 hours.) No bread or milk was left on the shelves.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 23, 2000.

75 miles N. of Atlanta here. On a mtn top. Power's been off since 8pm last night. Toasty with our kero heater and fireplace. Coleman stove brewing coffee, 12v lights, kero lanterns, etc. Running the computer on a deep cycle and an inverter. Battery backup unit is beeping like crazy. 300W inverter must be underpowered. It's a desktop.

Don't know when we'll get power back. Doesn't matter - we're set. Baked home made bisquits in the fireplace today. Plan some wwheat pankcakes for breakfast.

Best survival item by far is my old Bearcat 200XLT. Get's those better not mention stations that the FCC banned back in 94. We were AMAZED how many ppl are huddled in their beds -- zero preps. Just blankets for warmth. Heard the power crews going all night. They didn't have much luck. Could be a few more days without.

....gotta stoke the fire ;-)

-- farf (madeupguy@hotmail.com), January 23, 2000.

FELLOW GEORGIANS: Any information on the extent of the ice? We have property near Ellijay and have not heard from our friends to what degree the Ellijay area was affected.

Any information would be appreciated.....

With respect,

-- Dave Walden (wprop@concentric.net), January 23, 2000.

Sunday, 1/23/00 9:34 pm EST

Info. from WXIA, NBC affil., Atlanta on the storm

Link

Lost power here in Norcross (Gwinnett) area from 6-9 a.m. today, many trees still breaking, power coming on and off throughout N GA.

Two Hawks

-- John Eaton (jeaton@mindspring.com), January 23, 2000.

My happiest day, was to move from Georgia to Florida, 30 years ago. I remember freaking cold weather, for days on end. Moved to Fl., with the palm trees, the ocean. I went to work for a new beach front hotel, as desk clerk. I went to work, feeling I was on vacation, every day. I lived through the clients who checked into a room, with their bathing suits, and their unruly children, dealt with the Hotels policy of "overbooking". To answer you question,I have found that some life experiences, are loaded with Gold. While others, with Gold, inhand, continue to seek......

-- Only Stories (are@told.com), January 23, 2000.

Elljay (Blue Ridge) been hit much worse than Atlanta area. Line of ice seemed to cross through Marietta, Roswell, north Atlanta (brother-in-law in Jonesboro/Peachtree City had no problems, no outages at all.) Got worse as you go north and east.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

Power back up now after that little (obviously Canadianainaian-inspired) ice storm this weekend. Everybody here okay, everything worked fine. Inverter, batteries, and backup heat were fine. Water stayed up, natural gas stayed up, so the heater worked okay from the batteries. Very, very little power from the solar cells - they remained covered by 3/8" to 3/4" of solid ice and just didn't melt. No significant structural damage from falling limbs (to our house, roof or panels), but the porch cover has a few new "ventilation" holes and "skylights".... but no damage to cars.

Neighborhood still has several thousand tree branches down in various yards, streets, and lots; and many tens of thousand other busted and twisted upper limbs that didn't completely fall off. As stuff melts, most limbs (that didn't break completely) seem to straighten out okay.

Felt funny: I strongly disagreed with Mr. K's "3 day winter storm" analogy: believed most people would not treat it seriously (they didn't!) and would therefore not prepare seriously for any potential disruptions (they didn't!).....so, we got a little more ready for more problems lasting longer than many, though for as much (as long) y2k-induced disruptions as some.

Then, three weeks after the rollover, we get hit by a three-day ice storm! Over 350,000 lost power in Atlanta area alone, about half were back up in 12 hours,most back up within 24 hours, some still out today though. (North GA, South Carolina has more than 150-200,000 still out, but are recovering even more slowly.)

---...---...

They seem to be staging the trucks and crews coming from FL and Macon/south GA from the Kennesaw area, saw several dozen out of town crews in the lots near I-75 and I-575. If so, they'd likely be repairing things in Canton and Woodstock, then working north.

---...---...---

Judging from the calls to WGST/WSB, most people are reacting exactly as many expected (no preparations, looking immediately for government shelters, calling for help/demanding help immediately....complaining about cold apartments, cold houses, calling to find out where they can firewood, not too many getting angry) ... but the sense of desperation seems close to the surface in some as time goes on.

Funny, same things about generators, hookups, fires from heaters and candles, ways to get by that we've discussing for months all came out again. Over 130 fire reports alone from Atlanta...don't know how many in a normal day.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

Still without power here. Heard on the police scanner to expect 3-4 more days without. The town of Ellijay (Gilmer County) had a county wide power outage. Only restored in the center of town now. LOTS of trees down. The have a big chicken plant there that blew transformers like crazy. They are having an intown power problem still. Grocery stores with the power on will only accept cash or check. Networks have been busy on cell and landline at times, so they can't do any verifications I imagine.

All the ice is off the trees today. They're expecting more sleet and snow tonight. Black ice is still a problem up here at night. Roads are VERY hazardous if you go through a forested area at night.

-- farf (madeupguy@hotmail.com), January 24, 2000.

Just got back from Kroger on Hwy.92 Woodstock. Very crowded. Manager in the meat dept. told me the Kroger in Towne Lake (huge subdivision,same city, 1,000s homes) still closed, no power. Said Kroger in Dunwoody same situation. I did not personally drive by these stores to verify what this, so if anyone knows otherwise, my apologies. Schools closed today and tomorrow for Cherokee County. rest of week unknown. My kids are overjoyed.

Meat mgr. said with another front coming in at end of week and Superbowl this weekend should be a madhouse. Said "we're lucky to have what little we got on the shelves at all. Trucks coming tomorrow, so if you don't find what you need today, better get here early tomorrow morning."

I noticed this Kroger was completely sold out of those small expensive bundles of real firewood the store carries. 3 cartons of Duraflame logs left at $15.99. Meat selections were limited, but there was meat stocked, also milk and bread (usually first to go.) Cashier told me lots of people still without power.

WSG-tv is reporting that "10s of 1,000s are still without power since Sat." Crews have come from Alabama, Savannah and also contract crews to help Ga. Pwr. crew of 1500 working round the clock. All secondary roads north of me are either closed or one-lane open due to trees down. Many grocery stores north of me still closed, according to news. Head of GEMA reported on news to have slept on couch in his office. Several assisted-living centers w/out power, elderly bundled under blankets, finally center directors had to move residents to other areas. Critical care patients, no power, etc. Didn't they have generators and plan for y2k? This is shocking and reprehensible. Now reporting several reports of carbon monoxide poisoning from people using bbq grills indoors for heat. Truckloads of generators on way to stores, usual warnings about safety. Snow flurries in metro area and downtown today, temps still above freezing. Temp to drop to 20s tonight, stay cold all week, low teens Thurs.w/sleet-snow, Fri. snow flurries, Sat. freezing rain, saying another artic front.

-- Mellowdog (mellowdogusa@hotmail.com), January 24, 2000.

Thanks for update. Kennesaw area seems to be recovering a bit better than even your neighborhood ( only 15 miles apart....what a difference!)

If any of this level problem occurred Jan 01/02/03 in just 5% of the country to power ..... wouldn't the results have been destructive?

You're right ... even this little disturbance in power for such a short time shows the possible impact of real troubles ... that were very fortunately avoided somehow on Jan 01 nationally.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

For the rest of you guys who don't have a local map.....

Atlanta was spared the biggest impact of the storm, most power down there was up in 3-6 hours ...Marietta, GA (where I work) got 1/4" to 1/2" ice over everything. (Marietta is about 25 miles north-northwest of Atlanta.) Power came up in that area after 6-12 hours - for most areas.

Woodstock and Cherokee County (about 12-15 miles north-north east of Marietta) got much more damage, and the areas even further north (into the country between Atlanta and TN (Elljay. Blue Ridge, and the other smaller towns up there) are even more delayed in getting roads cleared and power restored.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 24, 2000.

to the top

-- plain 'ol Joe (Kennesaw@GA.net), January 24, 2000.

Thanks for these reports.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), January 24, 2000.