I haven't seen anything posted about the Ice Storm that came through Oklahoma 17 days ago. I'm sure it affected many drivers out there when you went to get fuel here .

Well this is a Christmas I'll never forget. The storm came rollin through early in the morning and I quickly realized that I had lost power to my home but figured like all the other times in the past it would come back on soon. At day light I looked outside and to my surprise my neighbors large tree had lost a major limb ... it managed to bend my link fence in half, and pulled the power line, cable, and phone line completely off my home ... the 3 lines broke in half ... andddddddd it tore up the power box. It was an odd day to say the least and a bit scary .... because I sat next to the window all day and watched helplessly while my trees of 27yrs slowly lost several of their big limbs, one tree completely split in half to the ground. For 3 nights I slept in the cold and lived by candle light in the evenings. On the fourth day I called my insurance and asked to be put up in a hotel IF I could find one with an opening.... Here I still set 17 days later ... NO power to my home and No idea of when I'll have it .....Acourse all the food in the big freezer spoiled, there was nothing I could do .... NO one had power. ......

I know for me and my family .... 2008 will have a different meaning to us. Isn't it something how we take electricty for granted .... never again!

They figured 600,00 homes and business were without power and 250,000 of them were in the greater Tulsa area -

Don't know why I posted this ... maybe because I'm about to pull my hair out - - - I just want to go home.

To those of you who live in Oklahoma or was affected by this Ice Storm ... I hope your doing ok and things are getting better each day.

 

**************HUGS**************

hang in there Rose it does get better. and you are right about it helping your family realise what a blessing some of the things are that we take for granted everyday. i'll be praying for you and your family as well as all the folks who are affected by the ice storm

 

We dodge the Ice so far this year! Unlike the years before!!! I know what fun it is! The first year we were down here... two days after christmas.. we were without power for a week..

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles Roses. I hope you get your power back soon, and I hope your house won't be too badly damaged when you do get back to it.

 

I was delivering a load from TN to KS when all the ice came along. I saw utility trucks going down the interstate in "CONVOYS". I would have thought that power would have been restored by now. Should not be long anymore now.

I had thought to ask if you were considering an AC generator for your house, but 17 days of fueling a generator with todays gas prices would be an expensive ordeal as well. Sure hope you get to enjoy yourself back in your own home for the New Year. Sort of gives new meaning to Thanksgiving. God Bless you.

I really don't think it took them that long to get everyone turned back on in Canada a few years ago. Quite a number of utility companies from the US sent crews up there then. I would think there would be some kind of "mutual aid" going on down here too.

And, don't worry about the "rant". Seems to me you are entitled to do that after all this time.

 

Roses, sorry you have been put through this mess. When I heard about this on the News, I thought about you, because I knew you lived in this area. I have faint memories of longer outages, but those were back in the years when we also would be snowed in for weeks. We use to get snow all the way up to the bottom of the powerlines. Road signs were long buried. Our roads would have 8 to 10+ foot deep snow drifts.

That was real Cabin Fever days. But we had outhouses...and hand water pumps...etc. We lived self sufficient for the most part. We all had wood stoves and fireplaces to heat and cook with. (I was like 10 years old I think when we first got indoor plumbing) I still checked the toilet for Hornets and Spiders for a long time. I guess I didn't know you were suppose to flush either... :? lamented my Mom.

I live only a block away from my FireHouse, (and right next door to the house I was born in) where we have a huge propane generator, that runs the whole facility. Many of us have portable generators, as we go through power outages about 10 times a year. But like you said, most are only for a day.

We mainly go around making sure our Elderly are doing okay. Some have medical gear that needs power to run. Just gives us a chance to look in on them, and bring them a warm lunch and some smiles and reassurance they are always thought about first.

I'm one of those guys who always catches more fish than I can eat, and have fed the Elderly fish since like the age of 5 hahaha...I think. The fish were mainly BlueGills or Perch then. But those oldtimers were the only ones who would believe my stories of the one that got away. (okay...so they thought I was nuts even way back then) ops:
I use to tell the old ones jokes...just to watch them laugh so hard, they're teeth would fall out, and they would pee. I really wasn't that nice of a kid.

 

FEMA hasn't zoomed to the rescue yet?? :shock: :shock: :shock:

After Hurricane Rita, it took over 2 months for everyone down in this area to get power service restored. Heck.. over 2 years later, you can still drive down streets here in town, and see power poles that were bent out of place by the wind, and they never got replaced or straightened.

I understand how you feel Rose, and it will get better.

 

Orangetxguy ..Well FEMA is here :roll: , but it was made clear early on that they were here for the most part to assist the State / City and etc ... like repairing roads and streets, get electric poles back up and what ever else they see fit to do. .. The one good thing that has happened is .. the Mayor announced the other day that a Program has been set up for people who still doesn't have power or can't afford to pay a electrian to repair the work. Needless to say I called in the moment I found out about this Program ... I haven't heard anything from them yet but I still have hope. The City will pay the eletrican that comes out to repair the homes. I must say that's a 'good thing' .... Considering the fact that ... the second day of the storm, my car went completely down and has been at the Dealership every since. They can't find out where the problem is - - why it doesn't work .............. so all this time I've been living in a hotel, I've also been hitching rides to work and back ... but as of today ... I had to rent a car ... friends are around just so long - then they too get tired of lending a helping hand.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and caring ways .. :cry: I want to go homeeeeeeee :cry:

 

Thats terrible Roses! Hope everything gets fixed up for ya real soon hun.
T

 

Rose...I know that some of the companies working to get things back in order up there are Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Pike Energy, and Entergy. Most of those folks will re-string wire all the way to the house, plus repair the main on the house, if it is repairable. You just need to be out there sweet talking with em when they show up, for anything extra beyond that.

Lot's of folks down this way got plenty of extra help after Rita, from the crews that worked to restore the system.