Before and after 3" ice storm

[jmorrow]

The first pictures were taken in the fall of 2008:
My front yard.



to the south of my house.


These pictures were taken on 1/28/09 after a 2"-3" ice storm put everyone in a 4 state area out of power.
Behind my house toward my tractor shedd.

Front yard.

Front yard, this is where my signature pic. was taken..

to the south of the house.

Back yard.


I was without electricity for 16 days, there were others out for 22 to 23 days. An ice storm at this magnitude was rare for northern Arkansas, even the older folks 70 to 95 year old said they had never seen a ice storm this bad. In 1994 we were without electricity for 5 days after an ice storm, in 2000 there was an ice storm but we (in my area) didn't loose power, There was a square mile area where I live that didn't loose power Several people were without power for two weeks.
For some people this was just a minor inconvenience (that's me), But for some people they were completely lost, no lights, TV, heat, refrigerator, water, and so on. :( I listen to a battery operated scanner (for entertainment) a lot during this time and there were several 911 calls to the police to go check on someone because they were at (quote) Witt's end because they were without electricity :(. One man in Paragould had even climbed up in a large tree and threatened to jump (they had a negotiator to talk him down) Needless to say portable generators sold like hot cakes for the first 5 day after the storm. Now generators are for sale everywhere. I think I'll keep mine," just in case". It took my wife and I a couple weekends but we finally got most of the broken limbs cut up and hauled off to a washout down by the creek. There are still some broken limbs in top of some large Oak trees we'll have to keep and eye on until they fall out. May have to wear a hard had to mow the lawn this summer.

[coacha]

Those are some heart breaking pictures. Glad you made out ok.

[Cajunrider]

Jim, You have a beautiful place. Lots of nice trees. It's kind of like a hurricane in that it will take a couple of years but everything will look great again. Time heals.
I'll hold on to my 12kw generator also. It got me through Katrina and Gustav with all the comforts we had before. Just very expensive to run at 1 gallon per hour.

[dabull]

wow....ran thru some firewood too i betcha....glad you are thru that mess...

[Top Cat]

The power is back on so people are now selling their generators? I don't get that. They think it is never going to go out again?
We were out of power for 3 days the first winter we moved out here in the country. The next winter we bought a generator and had the necessary wiring installed. The power didn't go out at all that winter. Did I sell the generator? Nope. Have used it many times since.

[goldstar225]

Jim, I thought that we'd had it bad during the ice storm of 2000. Turns out that it was only about 2/3rd of what you endured. I went up to Yellville this past weekend for my daughters wedding and was stunned by the damage. I'm concerned that we will have some bad forest fires within the next few years with all the limbs on the forest floor.

[oldbikers]

Jim we had a bad one in 94 it looked like a war zone around here I have 5 doors leading out of my house and I could only get out of 1 because of downed trees. Those are some great pictures of your fall colors.

[taranis]

It's good to hear there are still some out there who can be self-sufficient when the need arises. And you have a gorgeous property (*sigh*). I miss trees in my yard.

[ringadingh]

Thats looks like a beautiful piece of property, with or without the ice. I bought a generator about 5 years ago just in case I ever need one. So far I havn't had to use it, buts its there waiting. Id rather be ready instead of caught short.

[cactusjack]

I have never lived in an area where ice storms occur, and have never seen one. That's amazing! The closest I've come to something like that was an early snow storm on Oct 18, 1983 in Salt Lake City. A big winter storm dropped about 3' of snow. The trees still had leaves on them, so it broke tree branches, which fell on power lines and caused power outages all over the place.