robin craig Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 A very large area of eastern Canada and the upper north east of the USA has been hit by an ice storm over the weekend. Yesterday Monday 23rd Dec was the first day without the freezing rain for us. I don't have pictures to show as I am waiting for my lady to load them. Many hundreds of thousands of people are without power and will remain so over the holidays and longer. Also along with power has been the phones. Over here they string both above ground. For those of you who don't understand an ice storm, let me explain. It starts with below freezing temperatures, somewhere from zero to typically say minus 10 degrees C. Add moisture falling as rain and not as snow and it freezes on contact to any and every surface, trees cars roads you name it. Trees bend over and touch power lines and ground them out or rip them off the poles if they fall. Mobility is screwed as any slight hill becomes impassable if sanding / salting wasn't non stop during the storm. Until we get a thaw or strong sunshine to melt the ice we will continue to loose power over and over again as more trees bend and fail. As the temperatures drop as they are expected to do they will also become more brittle and break. Our rural community has lost power countless times since Saturday. If you are not hearing from loved ones on this side of the pond this may be the reason. Google for more results R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 In response to a post by Sirhc in another thread on this. Yes Chris we are affected. We live in a small island community of about 500 and our local government has it's base on another island. We have only one township staff member here and he runs the snow plow and has done many hours keeping the roads open. I went back to work yesterday (I am supposedly off for Christmas) so my co worker and I could safely go around cutting trees back as a pair to gain access for our tenants who rent from us and for the other inhabitants on the roads. We used a tractor with a bucket on the loader to shove the debris off the roadways after cutting with a polesaw at a distance. It is like working on a booby trap, each cut you make the tree reacts and one gets quite jittery doing the work. Bracnhes snap for no reason around you. The danger of getting hit is high. I am a member of our Fire department (100% volunteer staffed) and Im carrying a chainsaw on my work truck so I have a hope of getting to the station if the pager goes off. Its a mess. R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Hi Robin, sorry to hear of your problems, must be awful to be without power at this time and restricted travel when everybody is trying to visit relatives etc. Keep safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Keep safe Robin. Sounds like scary stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I second Enigma, be Bl**dy carful mate! England, and Wales, has come to a grinding halt with just rain and wind over the last 12 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.