Ice Storm AAR

[shrekswife]

We never lost power but since we were having lots of flickering lights and surges, I decided to proceed as if we would be in the dark at any moment.

Pre-storm:
Inventoried what we had on hand, added some fruit and some extra munchies to keep my guys sane in the event of a power outage and we were set.
Precooked a few pounds of hamburger and froze it for making chili, burritos and biscuits and gravy on woodstove. Ditto biscuits and bread.
Filled every available container (including washing machine) with clean, fresh water to use for flushing, dishwashing and animals. Already had plenty of drinking water. No need for extra ice since I keep clean 2-liter Pepsi bottles of water in freezer.
Bleached and set aside coolers.

During storm:
Cooked on the woodstove and found out what did/did not work. Coffee pot took forever to reach temp even with foil over the spout so I need to figure out how to get better results. Other than that, cooking was a success! May try bread this week just to see if I can do it, lol.

What I should have had on hand:
Foil- liquids heat quicker when I sealed the edges of lids while cooking. In a long-term event, I would need more.
Tea bags-just plain forgot these. No iced tea here!

What would have been handy:
Headlamps for outdoor trips and walking through the house to retrieve things. Much safer than kerosene lanterns and leaves hands free.

 

[DougBarnes101]

Only lost power for about an hour.

Had the truck full of gas and ready to go. Will need a few more 5 gallon gas cans.

I need to get a couple of more 7 gallon jugs for water. I filled the bathtub to have water to flush the toilet. (I like the idea about filling the washing machine).

I will put a tarp over the truck the next time. I will need to figure a way to hold it down. And I will use the idea about grocery bags on the mirrors.

Will go to Goodwill and look for golf shoes. Will hit Craigslist too.

Want to have a manual transfer switch installed for the new generator.

I did pre-cook some meat. Will do more next time and freeze it. More fuel for the jet boil.

And I will be finding a hand crank radio and probably an old transistor type radio.

I am sure I will think of some other things but these are the ones that come to mind at 3:30 in the morning

 

[Icarry2]

I use a rubber slip on traction device called a Yak Trak Walker, and love them. They go on and off easily and give yuo complete traction on ice and packed snow. Just don't walk on bare finished concrete, it's slick with them on.

YakTrax

 

[Stschil]

Although I didn't lose power, the biggest thing I realized I had not thought about was that my septic has a lift station. Since the genny we have wasn't supposed to run the whole house, I had to figure out how I was going to power the lift pump when we needed to flush.
I suppose that we should invest in a larger gen set and I should install a transfer switch on the house to make things less complicated.

 

[stilllearning09]

We were fortunate and did not lose the power. Have to chip away at the ice in the driveway today.

 

[bft131]

30 hours without power, was prepped and ready. Power went out about 3 pm Weds and came on about 10 pm last night. Gennie ran the corn stove, tv, fridge and microwave..Family hunkered down in the front room, had plenty of games and other things...A couple of things for me to buy; 220 cord for the stove and a 55 gallon drum for "toilet water"..Most traumatic thing was telling all the kids that we ALL go pee and then flush..pretty trumatic for a 16 y/o daughter HA!!

God bless all the line crews working out in this junk !!

 

[CountryBoy19]

Tuesday lost power 3:29-4:41 pm and again 4:59-6:33 pm.

The first time power went out it was still light out but we lit a few candles anyways just to help. I got all the goodies out (3 Coleman lanterns, Coleman dual-burner stove, Triangia alcohol stoves etc) then the power came back on. But knowing it wasn't over we left all the goodies out. On the second outage we just paid bills and went through paperwork by the lantern until a couple friends came over to play cards/games. Right after they walked in the door the power came back on. We still played cards all evening.

Nothing too bad... but then again we didn't get nearly as much as they were calling for and late Tuesday night the ice was already melting off. What had been 3-4 inch icicles earlier in the day were gone at midnight.

 

[eldirector]

Surprisingly, I've kept power through all of this. I was down in Houston Monday through Wednesday, but my wife and baby were here. A few thoughts:

- We have garage spots for all cars, so no worries there. My wife opened them a bit, and put salt down, and closed the door on the salt. I payed the premium and parked in the garage at the airport. Worth every penny.
- Filled up our camping water jugs (about 10 gallons total) before I left, and my wife filled a bathtub with water when the ice/sleet really started up.
- We are good on food, flashlights, batteries, candles, radios, etc.....
- I need to do something about alternative heat. The previous owner put in a gas insert for the fireplace, and it REEKS when running. Probably isn't very safe, either. I need to pull it out and get a cast-iron wood-burner. That way I can have heat even if both electricity and gas are off.
- A standby generator would have made my wife much more comfortable when I have to travel during bad weather like this.

All is well, though. 2-3 inches of ice/sleet on the ground, but nothing on the power lines. Roads are passable, but there are a lot of idiots driving on them. I'm working from my home office for the day.

 

[Bendrx]

I had an pretty okay time. Not much excitement, as expected it was a non-event. I did remember how much I dislike people in general. Nobody was at work, it was great. Had the 2 easiest days of driving to and from work in a really long time. It's great when there aren't a bunch of other cars in the way. The ones that were there were going way to slow, but easy enough to get around them. Still wish they'd have pulled out of the left lane so I could have passed on the left. Now that people are on the roads and at work I wish they were all at home still. I guess my mini-utopian experience is now over. Was fun while it lasted. And played with my battery bank last night. I'm pretty happy with it's performance for what it is. Will be adding more batteries over the next few months.

 

[sparky241]

We've got a 1/2 inch of ice everywhere outside. Sure, it could be worse, but I'd rather have had the snow.

I have a pair of cleats I can put on any shoe or boot. Used them today, and it makes for sure footing on the ice. Also portable, I ought to get a few more pairs and stash them in the car bags.

Pair Of New Swiss Military Crampons, Military Surplus, Brand Not Specified at Sportsman's Guide

Used Pair Of Swiss Glacier Boot Clamp - Ons, Military Surplus, Brand Not Specified, Used Swiss Military Surplus Glacier Boot Clampons Crampons Ice Spikes Cleats at Sportsman's Guide

Stabilizers Lite Ice Cleats, Footwear Accessories at Sportsman's Guide

 

[Keith_Indy]

Pair Of New Swiss Military Crampons, Military Surplus, Brand Not Specified at Sportsman's Guide

Used Pair Of Swiss Glacier Boot Clamp - Ons, Military Surplus, Brand Not Specified, Used Swiss Military Surplus Glacier Boot Clampons Crampons Ice Spikes Cleats at Sportsman's Guide

Stabilizers Lite Ice Cleats, Footwear Accessories at Sportsman's Guide

Thanks...

 

[unforgiven1203]

my power was finally turned back on about 6pm tonight. It is good to have power again but its also nice to have the experiance and I will adjust future prepararations accordingly. The little harbor freight generator was a life saver but will be getting replaced with a larger unit.
I'll also keep more propane and gasoline on hand. It would also be prefferable to have a gas fired stove for cooking.

 

[Dbusby2009]

I went out to my patio around 10p.m. the second night of the storm and fired up the grill and enjoyed a T-Bone.
Great storm. got to ice skate while grilling.!

 

[Ryno300]

Never lost power, but all the warnings finally got me off my duff to get a few things I've had on the list. Secured a large propane heater, 10 1lb cannisters, a 10' hose for my 20 lb tank, a propane lantern, and a jump box with AC and DC options...oh, and Combat Handguns for a little reading material
I worry about the propane heaters in doors, but I guess if you're careful and attentive it's not a big deal.

Things I still plan to get:
New Carbon Monoxide detector - would make me feel better about the propane heat
A battery operate analog or emergency radio
Large water containers - plenty of bottles, but need a larger size for cooking/washing
LED or battery powered lantern

 

[Steve]

Never did lose power. Had already stocked foods in advance (it's called prepping). Plenty of wood for the woodburner (prepping again). Topped off the truck Monday. Cooked up 2 big pots of chili and chicken & noodles Monday night so that we could reheat them on the woodburner later if needed, but didn't need to. No real issues during the event. Can't say anything bad or exciting about it.

Do need to get a genny and some extra gas cans. Plenty of cords already. 55 gal barrel for water is in the works as well.

All in all, I'd sayy we got lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

 

[bwframe]

I use a rubber slip on traction device called a Yak Trak Walker, and love them. They go on and off easily and give yuo complete traction on ice and packed snow. Just don't walk on bare finished concrete, it's slick with them on.

YakTrax

I picked up a pair of these today. Used them for a couple hours. Well worth the $20 price.

 

[irishfan]

The biggest problem I have noticed after the ice storm is water in my kitchen. It turns out that the build up of ice created an ice dam on my roof and the draining water went backwards under my shingles. I called the roofing guy I know and he said he already had more than 30 calls this morning for the same problem. Now I need to figure a good way to get the ice off the roof for future storm possibilities.

 

[HICKMAN]

Never lost power here, just blinked a bit.

Realized I need to get a new grill, as we tossed our old one during the move.

We also need to get other heat sources, for when the generator runs out of gas.

 

[ralphb72]

Power stayed on here which was good considering I had to work.

 

[patton487]

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