Izzy's Icemageddon Journal

[izzyscout21]

Day 1
Saturday 21 Feb

We got about 6-8 inches of snow last week. No big deal. Road crews did a fantastic job of keeping everything clear. Friday morning, I made sure that everyone had prescriptions filled and that the vehicles were topped off.

Then came 3AM Saturday morning. My wife and I awoke to fierce wind and rain. I instantly remembered that the forecast had calked for ice on top of the snow. Yipee.

I got myself out of bed and made sure all the cold weather gear I had set out the day before was all accounted for. I knew that as soon as the freezing rain began to accumulate, the power was going to go down.

That happened at 5AM.
House temp: 74F

I knew that the internal house temp would steadily fall. Out came the sleep systems.

Breakfast consisted of eggs, oatmeal, and other various perishable foods I could prep with my single burner backpacking stove.

9AM

The trees began to fall.
My entertainment for the rest of the morning pretty much consisted of watching days and days of chainsaw work fall from the sky.

Lunch was more perishable goods from the fridge.

By this time, I had a good 1/4 in to 1/2 in of ice on top of the snow. Watching my poor dog try to navigate the ice for potty break was semi-amusing.

Dinner: more stuff that I thought would go bad.

More to follow.....

[Sniper-T]

Great write up Izzy. How about some more details on the gear. And how about some pics!

[izzyscout21]

Day 2
Sunday 22 Feb.
Part 1

The house is cold. Down to 48 F.
While this temp is certainly manageable, I know that it's not going to get any warmer in here, especially with outside temps in the high 20's and low 30's. Time to start considering alternate plans.

Breakfast consisted of the last of the fresh eggs. We eat a lot if eggs here, so I had about 4 dozen that needed to be eaten after the lights went off. More oatmeal and hot tea were served. The kids like fruit, so they gobbled up the remaining fresh strawberries, blueberries, and apples. Lillian is lactose intolerant, so we don't keep regular milk on hand. As consequence, we helped her chug the last half gallon of almond milk.

After breakfast was cleaned up, I decided to scout for possible egress routes. My primary bug out plan has always been to link up with RiverRat, about 3 hours south. Secondary option is to make it to my dad's place, 2 hours southeast.

Yesterday, I had removed the lawn mower battery and used it to set up my HAM radio station. Prior to leaving the house, I managed to get some road information from some of the HAM guys in those directions. According to them, my potential egress would be a coin flip at best.

Unfortunately, I don't own a 4WD anything, so I had to take that into consideration. I decided to do some recon on my own. I managed to get my car out of the driveway (still not sure how I managed that), and headed south on the only real road out of here. Right off the bat, my second turn on what would be my route to RiverRat was closed. Totally impassable, with sheriff's roadblocks ensuring nobody tried. So instead of turning, I continued southbound toward the interstate.

The main road on my route was mainly clear, save for a few ice spots, road debris, and power crews working their asses off. Snapped power poles are everywhere. Downed trees are still a hazard, with many still threatening to fall on passing cars.

I made it into Crossville, the next largest population center, and onramp to the interstate. I stopped to fill up the car, and managed to speak to a state trooper. I was informed that while the interstate is technically open, in his opinion it would be suicide to attempt to get down the mountain in either direction. Advise duly noted. Primary and secondary egress plans are now shot. Time to reevaluate. I returned home.

[Sniper-T]

no 4x4... next best thing is a set of tire chains. too late now, I would suspect, but something to consider?!?

No alternate heat source? propane, kerosene, anything?

If you have an empty 20# propane bottle, and some time, you can hacksaw the top off, and sitting by a cracked open window to allow smoke out, it would make a makeshift barrel woodstove! Cover a 6X6' area with tinfoil if that's all ya got, for sparks. any kind of screen/grill on top would help too. even your bbq grills criss-crossed!

stay safe my friend... stay warm!

[izzyscout21]

Day 2
22 Feb
Part 2

Along my drive, my wife called. My in-laws live about 10 minutes away, and have been snowed in since early last week, when the snow began. The ice further complicated their issue. After depleting their firewood supply and their food, they took their chances. They managed to find 2 generators over 2 hours away. They were on their way to get them, and drop one at my place.

After the initial shock of them actually finding one, my mental checklist once again started. My primary concern is fuel. I normally keep 15-20 gallons on hand. I wanted to make sure all were topped off, and maybe get an extra gas can or two while in town.

I returned home, filled up my lawn mower, the intent of which was to use as a fuel reserve. I loaded my 3 cans into the car to go fill them up. Since the house was cold, I piled everyone into the car for an outing. After an iffy egress from the driveway, myself, my wife, both kids, and the dog were on our way into town.

The sheer amount of destruction on the trip continued to astound me. It literally looks like a tornado came through and took everything but the houses. Whoever pissed off Queen Elsa needs to go make a human sacrifice to appease her.

Once in town, I wanted to see if I could locate any extra fuel can, just to put my mind at ease. First stop was Lowe's. No joy. Folks were fighting over stuff, so I just turned right back around. Tractor supply was the same was, just not at fist fight stage yet. I looked at Walmart, but decided that I might end up shooting somebody If I went in there. Screw it. I'll make due.

Passing a local Mexican restaurant and noticing the lights were on, we made the snap decision to stop and eat. Inside was nice, warm, and reeked of genuine south of the border goodness. I ordered chimichangas, not that anyone cares. The power went out as we were waiting on our food. Dammit. With the lights off, We munched our chips and salsa, and magically, our food appeared. Glad I brought cash.

After eating we stopped so I could top off the jerry cans. When we got home, not knowing if a generator would actually show, I made other arrangements. I filled two 5 gallon buckets with snow and placed them inside my deep freezer. The idea was to turn it into a makeshift refrigerator. My main concern was not necessarily food, but keeping my daughter's refrigerated heart medication cold. I dug out extra cold weather gear, just in case.

Around dusk, my-inlaws showed up with a generator. By george, they'd actually done it. Myself and my father in law set it up out back. You must understand that my wife's parents are older (in their 60's), and are not the prepping type. They have had no real way to cook, especially after depleting their firewood. I made my father in law a thermos of fresh coffee, and since my MIL has Crohn's and can't do caffeine, a thermos of hot decaf tea. I gave them my 2 burner Coleman stove and 4 bottles of propane.

After they left, I hooked up our electric space heaters, topped off the generator, and arranged sleeping arrangements in the living room.

Stand by for Part 3

[Sniper-T]

pics Izzy... pics!

you're killin' us!
Awesome job though!

[izzyscout21]

Day 2
22 Feb
Part 3

After putting the kids to bed, I decided to replenish the fuel I had just put into the generator. And also, my wife requested a candy bar.

Again, I miraculously made it out of the driveway. I had heard tales of power up an running in our little town, as opposed to the hour drive I took earlier today. I decided to check it out, so I turned my car north. I had not ventured up this way, and was unsure of what the roads were like, but screw it. It will be an adventure. I had a full tank of unleaded, my dog Recce, and my Sig. Nothing to fear.

Ice damage was very extensive this way too, but I made it into town.
Of course, they had restored power to Walmart. Gotta have Walmart..... Effin' Walmart.....

Screw it. I was curious, so I decided to go in. Almost nobody was out by now. Just a few folks getting tobacco products. The store looked like the pics you see when a hurricane is coming at Florida. I really think people were buying anything they could get their hands on. The entire store was a mess. I talked to the poor loss prevention guy, who had been busy dealing with people stealing absolutely everything including TVs and other high end electronics. Just goes to show....

After grabbing the requisite candy bar, Recce and I headed to the gas station. No gas. Ok cool. The only other gas station in town was running, so we stopped there.
I got out of the car, got my tanks out, and started filling up.

I stopped pumping and stood up quickly as I heard somebody running in my direction. A scraggly dude was making a bee line towards me, and my spidey sense went off. He was yelling "Hey man, let me get one or two of those cans!" I bladed myself to him and positioned myself to the rear of my car. I unholstered my Sig, and held it at my side, out of his view. Recce positioned herself in front of me, hair raised, giving me her best feral bark.

I'm not sure if he saw my gun, or all he could see was Recce, but he stopped really fast.

"Sir, you need to step back and walk away. You cannot have these."

He quickly turned and retreated. Recce pulled guard as I finished filling, and we returned home.

[izzyscout21]

I'm working on pics T. I'll get some up soon..

[robsdak]

yep, good write up. glad your semi prepared. what about ol' dude wanting gas cans? he just left? be careful. sounds like it could get 'stoopid' up there, sort of like before and after a hurricane here. it's kills me to hear about folks stealing tv's and such... LOL they do it here too, knowing they have no power. i guess they could sell it?

[izzyscout21]

Actually, we were pretty prepared. We could have weathered this with just our preps, no problem. But there's only so much im gonna put the kids through.