The Ice Storm of 2014

So this will likely be my last post for winter before all the backgrounds change for spring.  We have had a very interesting and trying couple of weeks! Our first real snow storm was so beautiful, which I have documented here.  Then the weather turned, warmed and became really nice and we thought spring had arrived.  Only a few nice days, and then there followed The Ice Storm of 2014!

It hit late at night on a Thursday.  We were woken up early Friday about 4am by terrible thud's and pop's and cracks.  We had no idea what it was.  We took a flashlight and went outside and saw that all around us tree branches that were heavy with ice were bent toward the ground and some were popping, snapping and crashing as they fell.  One large branch hit our roof above our bedroom, which is what woke us up.  We could hear the sizzle and crack of power lines as they blew or fell down.  I happen to be looking across the street at a tree that was most active in falling branches and right at that moment the clouds behind the Price's place lit up with an eerie green color as a transformer blew.  Amazingly we still had power!  Back in the house we huddled in bed together as we listened to the ice in the trees making such a clatter when the wind blew.  Our lights flickered on and off a few times.  I got up and filled the bathtub with water, and every pitcher we had in the house.

We dozed a little more, but finally just got up as the crashing around us continued like little explosions every few minutes.  While the ice was really beautiful, we waited in dread for something to crash into our roof and cause serious damage.  We were out a few times talking with the Prices, who had a generator so they had all the necessary things at their house.  At around 9am Friday, it finally happened.  All the power went out.  Suddenly we realized in all the excitement, we hadn't showered and I hadn't done the dishes!!  Not smart, but then this was our first ice storm, what can you expect?

All the trees were white with ice, even though it looked like snow!

The neighbor, Hendel, and I walked over the Woodland's to check out the tree that was uprooted and had fallen in their front yard.  Even while we stood talking about it, more cracks and pops sounded as trees branches continued to break.  We finally walked away after observing the damage, and just as we did, a loud crack behind us.  A tree branch fell exactly where we had just been standing! A close call, we decided it best to get indoors.  

Even though we didn't have an inspection our fire place worked great when we got it going

We were getting hungry so I asked Chris to get the camp stove out and we would cook hotdogs on it. This proved to be a little more annoying that we had thought, when we realized it was probably dad who had set this thing up the only other time we had used it when camping!  He finally figured it out and boy did those dogs smell good.  Hmmmm.

 Just as we got the dogs cooking, there was another loud bang that came from the street in front of the house.  We looked at each other - more trees falling? I said no, that wasn't a tree, it was a car wreck.  I know that sound and it is not good.  Chris ran toward the driveway to look while I tended the stove.  He yelled, indeed there had been a wreck, one car was in the ditch in the Woodland's front yard.  I told him to run and see if anyone needed help while got the stove turned off.  He had the umbrella, it was still sleeting outside.  When I came upon the scene there was a man sitting on the upturned window of the driver's side of his car, which lay on it's side in the ditch.  Another car was crippled resting in the road.  Chris was holding the umbrella over the guy in the ditch and so I went to the other car, and found the guy there to be unhurt.  We waited with them until the ambulance and tow trucks finally came.  It was getting late by then, and we were starving, still having not eaten our lunch.  Those hot dogs tasted so delicious, and really hit the spot.

Not long after eating we heard a rather more loud pop and crash than had been sounding previously, and Chris shouted to me pointing out our window.  A tree branch had finally fallen and taken out our power line which connects to the house.  Luckily the power was still off, so no danger in the lines, but it was still scary to see the damage it caused when it tore the breaker box right off the wall.

It was a disaster! Not long after we got the branch off the line we started making calls to report this and another tree that was on the line down the road from us.  That, and calls to our insurance to figure out how to get the fuse box fixed.  The day was so long, we were pooped! But as the sun set, we marveled at how beautiful the icy trees looked.  We took another look around and found some damage to the Woodland's back fence, and their bushes were bent over and almost blocking the gate and sidewalk!

Some other images of the amazing ice that encased everything around us.

You can see way in the distance the other tree on the power line

The ice is so heavy, all the bushes and trees are bowed

Our tree out front, branches giving way under all the weight

We made one last visit to the Price's to see how they were faring.  A tree had fallen on their roof, a huge branch but luckily it hadn't done any damage.  They lost a few trees, which had split down the middle.  As we were talking, the electricity to their house came back on! We ran back to our house to make sure the wires laying around our house hadn't gone live.  Because of the box no longer attached to our wall, we were glad that the wires seemed dead.  By then we were so exhausted, we were ready to call it a day and turn in at our cold, cold house.  We were getting settled into bed when Chris decided to check on the basement.  It had already started to warm up some, and it was getting really slushy outside.  One thing we hadn't though of, was the sump pump. Without electricity our basement  it was on the verge of flooding! We called the Hendel to see if we could borrow his generator since their electricity was back on.  He had a great idea, for us to run an extension cord from the Woodland's who also had power back.  It was the perfect solution! Our last emergency of the day, we were running extension cords at 9pm at night.  It was one long day.

The next morning we were huddled around the fireplace, enjoying the amazing fire Chris built in the morning.  I felt like our house was a big ship, dead and floating in the water.  We were using a pitcher to flush the toilet with water from the bathtub.  But what a blessing that the Woodland's house was back up again, and we could go over there if we needed to - which would soon include much needed showers! Getting our first glimpse outside after all the events of the previous day, we felt like we were in a war zone or something.

By Sunday morning it had all melted away, and we got a good look at all our damaged trees.

Getting out of the house finally, we were able to see some of the damage down the road on Wendover.

It would be another week before we got our power back, and a week and half before we got internet (which just happened this week).  We survived our first ice storm, and are so glad that no real damage was done to our house.