Heard there's a terrible icestorm in Arkansas and surrounding area? Are you all o.k.?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 27, 2000

Answers

Big ice storm. Little better today. Many without electric. Lot breaking limbs. Had one hit my house, but no damage. Oddly my electric hiccupped couple times, but I have never been without yet. Usually mine goes out and stays out for week or more sometime during winter.

Main hiways are supposed to be passable. Just big sheet of ice here on the hill (I'm in NW Arkansas). Doesnt affect me much except slippery to go out and get firewood from my pile. Maybe this winter weather will calm the ticks come next spring.

-- Ozarkhermit (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), December 27, 2000.

My son is in Little Rock.He's been without power since Tues. afternoon.The National Guard is helping out down there and about 20 counties have been declared disaster areas.About 400,000 are without power.My son says his power maybe on by New Years but possibly not until next Tues.

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), December 27, 2000.

Southeast Oklahoma is having big problems. So much ice the power poles are snapping. People were driving from Idabel, OK, to Mt. Pleasant, TX, to buy groceries, batteries, gas, etc. Distance is around 80 miles. Then the highway departments of TX and OK closed the roads. I have a friend up there I haven't contacted in a couple of days. His house was full of folks who lived in all electric homes. He had propane and wood burner. They were hit really bad last year with 18 inches of snow that collapsed buildings, etc. Still, folks didn't prepare for outages. There is a curfew in Idabel to stop further looting. My friend will survive because he still had his Y2K supplies. I don't know about some of the others.

-- (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

OH MAN! It has been bad!( still is for most ) Our lights went out Tuesday morning at 9a.m. We just got them on today ( What is today? ) Oh yes it's Thursday. They came on at 2p.m. There has been no electric or water for some time. It's real sad for most folks here. Thank God we have had wood heat and we had water until yesterday. Don't know how long that will last. We can use our well for critters and necessary flushing. But it is not good for drinking. We have enough drinking water to last a while ( maybe a week or so).And the creek is running real good now.Hauled enough water to wash towels and undies, And we can boil it for dishes and stuff. It's amazeing how much you can live without if you don't have it. The main roads are good now but the folks that live back off the highway will be out of water and electric for weeks to come is what I hear. We just took ice off the truck and put it in the freezer and stuff kept really well. One guy made a sign and put it up on the highway that said " Entergy PLEASE! My kids are freezing. I'll give you my boat, my dog, my truck, and my cranky wife. HELP!" I hope he meant it to be a funny. He did not sign it. What else can ya do in times like these? You could stand outside and hear trees falling under the weight of all that ice. It was pretty awsome! When we went to town trees and power poles were down all over the place. Well I think I am starting to ramble. This is the first time I have talked to anyone since Tuesday. Sorry. Love ya'll!

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), December 28, 2000.

Oh, I really feel for all of you! I am glad that many Countryside folks are prepared, but I am particularly concerned about all of those folks who aren't.

We have lost our power several times in the past couple of weeks due to high winds(?), but this year so far, we haven't lost it for more than half a day. The situation down south is serving to remind me to finish gettting our winter supplies done asap(including refilling the water tank, and if we can't do that, at least to get some jugs filled.)I can do without a lot of convenience things if the power goes off (even this Forum...but it's hard.) A wood fire is normal for us, and candlelight looks nice this time of year, but without water I get pretty snarly. I have heard that some areas have run out of water in Tennessee. Probably other places too.

My prayers and wishes for warmth and safety to you all. Hope you get good weather soon.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 28, 2000.

Ratdogs 10...the thought occured to me re your friend having a house full. I wonder if any of those brought bedding, what water they had and food? Or did they just arrive at his door? Did they know he was prepped for y2k? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Judith

-- Judith (JHaral2197@aol.com), December 30, 2000.

Good to hear from you Bonnie. Glad you're ok, my, it sure sounds bad down there. We knew it was from all the news stories. We'll be praying for you all, and praying this winter will lighten up some for folks. All of you down there hang in there, and keep us posted how your doing.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), December 30, 2000.

We are back form our place in SE Oklahoma, north Atoka County. Area was very hard hit by ice. Tree broken, power lines down. No electricity since the storm hit and none expected for at least another week. It was snowing when we left this morning.

Found the house slightly damaged by the storm. A branch from the sycamores went through the porch roof and then through the dining rom window. Fortunately the pipes did not freeze and we were able to have running water Friday night.

Spent most of Saturday with the chain saw clearing the power lines to the house. Ended up cutting down a tree that was damaged by the ice. It's upper portion was on the power drop, causing the meter pole to list, but not yanking the lines loose. Had to use the tractor, a come- a-long and a rope to ensure that it fell away from the house and the lines.

Heh, then I got around to wiring in a reverse service plug for the generator. Saturday afternoon we had lights and hot water. The hot water heater was a bit too much for the gennie, but it held up even if the lights were a bit dim. Kept the heater on only long enough to make hot water for washing up.

Power lines are down north of us. Neighbors cleared the fall so that the lines raised up off of the road. But not by much. After a propane delivery truck about lost it trying to avoid hitting them, we went out and tied about 6 safety tapes to the drooping wires.

Buying the generator (for use in the barn) was a good move. Buying the Stihl was a great move. Having two Coleman lanterns was a stroke of luck. One didn't work very well and if it had been the only one we would have had to make do with candles and flashlights.

-- Dennis Virzi (den2007@swbell.net), December 31, 2000.

Hey! Today we got the phone lines up! Yesterday electric! Haven't seen either since Christmas day about lunch time. I'm almost exactly between Idabel, OK and Mt.Pleasant, TX. Christmas night a tree fell on the house, there is damage but no one can get in to work on it. Thank the Lord no one was hurt. I've sort of enjoyed the quiet and I like using lanterns for light, however, my four yr old does not. When the lights came on he jumped up and yelled MOVIES!! There are many who realy suffered during the ice , followed by snow, but we were lucky since we have butane heat and cooking. We simple put the things that needed refrigeration out on the glass porch. Didn't have to worry about the freezer food , it was empty, we lost all of that the last time the power was out for days, a couple of weeks prior. I'm just thankful to be online again, I don't contribute much, but I stop in to read whats going on with others on a daily basis. I've missed you all! I hope everyone has faired as well. Jackie, Acorn Hill

-- Jackie of Acorn Hill (jlynne@neato.com), January 02, 2001.