Here are a few stats so that you can all appreciate the scope of the thing.
-Nearly 1 million people state-wide lost their power; that was 1/3 of the entire state
-Schools were closed for at least 1 week
-the National guard was called in to help with clean-up and safety of the citizens
-the weather was in the mid 20s, lows down to single digits at night
-Kentucky was declared to be in "a State of Emergency"
-24 people died from the storm, roads or cold
In short, it was the worst blackout in the history of Kentucky.
All that being said, Jed and I were very blessed. We went through one scary, creaky night where you could hear the trees cracking and crashing all around. Freezing rain is new to us and it's effect is to literally freeze instantly once it hits. So the world is one big icicle, beautiful and deadly. Our yard has 100 foot plus trees, as do most in the forrested terrain of Kentucky. As the rain would hit and freeze, the upper branches were weighted down beyond what the brittle tree could hold and they would split from the tops. Every ten minutes or so, we could hear more limbs falling around us. I was so scared, I pulled Ella into our room to sleep for part of the night because trees crashing through roofs aren't too far fetched here in KY.
We did however awake the morning safe and sound and without power. Something that didn't return until 8 days later. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but Ella wouldn't sleep anywhere but in her crib and so we lasted out one night piled under blankets and seeing our breath as it came from under the warmth. We knew we couldn't do that again and so we drove the 2 hours to Cincinnati to purchase the nearest available generator.
The next WEEK, we lived in 3 rooms, with extention cords powering space heaters. What an adventure!
The cleanup was a whole other experience, cutting, hauling, chopping, sawing, and dragging tree limbs to the front yard for 5 hours plus. Good times, actually they really were.
On the bright side, Jed was out of school for a week, we're more aware and prepared for emergencies (get a generator), we met more neighbors, made some funny memories, had great meals provided by friends and grew closer to everyone around. Here are some photos of the this crazy ice storm adventure.
Jed and Ella on the final pile of limbs in our front yard.
Ella playing during the big clean-up.
Jed trying to brake off a branch that was mostly down and needed to come off. We have a couple more of these right over the top of the house. Hopefully we can get a tree service out here to cut them down before they knock the roof in the next wind/ice storm.
Our friend the generator!!!
Aftermath.
E watching the snow as it kept falling.
The icicle effect of freezing rain. Absolutely gorgeous!
A cloudy sun after one long night.
