Ice Storm Suggestions based on past experience

[hedgehog]

1. Check your roof - a magnolia landed on my parents' roof with the ice, then lifted away once the storm passed. The damage was done, though.

2. Check older family members and neighbors for hypothermia

3. Stay away from wires - assume that they are live.

4. Watch for wires while cleaning up - the ice tugs them into unexpected places.

5. If you're going to help someone with the cleanup, wear water proof gloves and boots to keep warm.

6. You can cook outside on a hibachi or grill if necessary.

7. DO NOT RUN A GENERATOR IN AN ATTACHED GARAGE OR BASEMENT!

8. Check the connection where the power line is tied to your house. Usually you'll see the line from the power pole come up to some connectors which lead to a cable that runs down the side of your house. The power company will only replace the wire on its side of the connectors. If the cable that runs down the side of your house is torn away by the ice, call an electrical contractor ASAP to repair it. Otherwise, the power company will come out, declare it unsafe to reconnect your house and put you at the bottom of the list. I hope what I'm trying to explain here makes sense.

[JeffR]

1. K & R

Thanks for this.

[hedgehog]

2. I'm afraid that the people that need this the most are probably off-line!

down the main power lines and also the lines to your house.


Any other suggestions out there?

[TahitiNut]

8. The frontal system is moving east, and the ice storms with it.

We're getting it in southern Michigan and northern Ohio now until morning. Hopefully, it won't be nearly as bad here.

/O.CON.KDTX.WW.Y.0008.000000T0000Z-071212T0900Z/
LIVINGSTON-OAKLAND-MACOMB-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...HOWELL...PONTIAC...WARREN
1102 PM EST TUE DEC 11 2007

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM EST
WEDNESDAY...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM EST
WEDNESDAY.

RAIN WILL MIX WITH SLEET AND SNOW...WITH FREEZING RAIN ALSO
POSSIBLE...LATE THIS EVENING. THEN...PRECIPITATION WILL CHANGE
OVER TO ALL SNOW BEFORE DIMINISHING LATE TONIGHT. SNOW WILL
LIKELY ACCUMULATE TO AN INCH OR TWO BEFORE ENDING.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING OR WHEN ENGAGED IN OUTDOOR ACTIVITY.

[Hoof Hearted]

3. Thawing ice is VERY dangerous from trees, roofs and buildings!

Large chunks can break off (from trees over the road, etc.) and go straight through your car, or straight through you, or your passengers.

[hedgehog]

7. Not all the branches come down at once, either. Some get hung up on other branches

and come down in the next windstorm. There may also be wires down or hanging across the road. Forget driving around to check the damage, it's too dangerous.

[Lone_Wolf]

4. you should add "Don't walk under trees."

Large branches could break off and hurt someone.

[silverojo]

5. Sound advice

Esp. the part about the generator. I had an aunt die of carbon monoxide poisoning when she was only 19, and she was just sitting in a car that was running to keep the heater on. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer--always take care to avoid it.

[Broken_Hero]

6. In my experience

Have a lot of water...for toilet/flushing purposes, and for bathing, and of course drinking water.

Candles, odorless lamp oil, extra batteries, flashlights, and board/card games(this comes in handy if you lose power for more than a day).

This last January, we(as in SW Missouri area) got hammered by an icestorm, one of my wife's coworkers asked us "how did you keep your freezer/fridge items from going bad?", and my wife stated "We put our items in coolers, and put them outside, duh"

So, thats another suggestion that may seem common sensed to some, but others might not pick up on that.

Also, a Chain saw...I recommend having one on hand. In my experience its usually not the ice that impedes traffic/travel the most, its the amount of fallen tree's/limbs.

Also, do not try to heat your home with your "gas/propane" cooking stoves, they do put out odor, and can be fatal if used in excess. We were lucky that we have a woodstove, and we used that for warmth/cooking issues.

[hedgehog]

11. Now is NOT the time to learn how to use a chain saw.

My husband cleaned up my folks' place wearing chaps, gauntlets, full face shield, hard hat and hearing protection. My children watched a guy down the street leaning off a ladder holding the saw at arm's length. They claimed to have dialed 9 - 1 and were standing by to dial the last 1 once the guy fell and/or cut off a vital part.

[Broken_Hero]

14. Ouch...

I admit, I had a bud of mine show me the ropes/safety issues around using a chainsaw, and I definitely don't recommend using one while on a ladder, while there is a bunch of ice/debris all over the place...

Yikes...:scared:

[Kazak]

9. Our power was out for about 30 hours...

Luckily just came back up a few hours ago. I was not looking forward to another cold night. Many in this area are not so lucky. It's the damnedest thing what's happened here. Driving around in the neighborhoods it looks like absolute desolation. I've never seen anything like it. It literally looks like a huge tornado came through but left all the buildings intact. I feel so bad for all of the trees. I think the effects of this storm will likely be apparent many years from now.

[bananas]

10. k&r for sugestion #2 - check daily or more! nt

[hedgehog]

13. If the power is going to be out for a while, get to warm shelter.

The Buffalo storm last year was very localized. Five miles away, there was no damage and you could get a warm hotel room or stay with a friend or family member. I don't know what people in Oklahoma and Missouri are going to do. The damage sounds pretty widespread.

[Longhorn]

12. We had to prop a board under the power line from the pole to our house

because a giant oak tree branch was going to lean on it during our big ice storm last January. If we hadn't, the power line would have come down. All of the other branches of the tree were almost touching the ground when they had the weight of the ice on them. Since then, we've had our trees trimmed.

[sofa king]

15. Use Folding@Home.

Obviously, this only works if you have electricity, but not heat. Joining the Democratic Underground folding team to number-crunch proteins cranks your computer's CPU up to full load, generating well over 100 watts of heat transfer with most modern systems.

Along with a few candles and an overhead light, I was able to keep the temperature around a toasty 60 degrees for a couple of months one cold winter not too long ago.

I think the idea could work if, say, one had a single generator outdoors and no other heating devices.

Be careful putting big-ass rocks in the fireplace and then trying to use them as portable space heaters. Water works its way into the cracks of the rocks and can cause them to explode when heated, showering a room with burning embers and rock shrapnel. Heated rocks can hold a temperature high enough to ignite wood, paper and plastic on contact. Yeah. Don't ask me how I know that.

[hedgehog]

16. Computers and hot rocks to heat your home! No one can say you aren't

versatile.

[Hoof Hearted]

17. Where the hell do YOU live? LOL.

And also: So that's why I run so hot? Folding@Home?

Oh well, worthy cause, fascinating work.

[aroach]

18. Awful

My mother is going on five days without power in Joplin, Mo.

In January we went without power or any source of heat for a week. It was six below one night and you could see your breath in the house. There was not an alternative heat source available for purchase at any price within hundreds of miles. I thought I'd be smart and order one online with next day shipping but none of the delivery companies were running to our area. Hotels were full. Shelters were full.

So I say get your alternative heat source now before you need it. If you're too late I can tell you how we managed to survive with two little kids in the bitter cold.

[Broken_Hero]

19. Its really bad in Joplin...

Hell, two of their local channels were down for a day solid...KSN just came up earlier this evening...

I hope your mother/family stays safe/warm....

[Berry Cool]

20. A complication in ice storms is the delayed power loss that comes

when trees whose branches got weighed down by the ice begin to thaw out and the branches pop back up and snap more power lines than were originally snapped by the storm.

The people caught in this one are about to learn just how competent their local power companies really are. That's the lesson we took away in Rochester, NY in '91. We learned that Rochester Gas & Electric really had no contingency plans for such a storm and we were essentially up that creek that starts with S.

[Thothmes]

21. Sound Advice, thanks

[notadmblnd]

22. I've found that a few preventative tasks performed in the fall

although a little late, it will help minimize the effects of a severe ice storm.

1. Trim scraggly limbs and dead branches from trees near your house and cars.

2. Make sure your roof and gutters are in good shape (ice dams can form around the edges and cause water damage inside of your house.

3. Make sure generator is ready to go if needed (oil/gas) and never run it in an enclosed area

[REP]

23. If you have power, keep a fan blowing on your pipes

Or do what I did after spending a lifetime in Kansas City: MOVE!