Ice Storm in Photos

Hello Dreamers,

Last Sunday my region got hit with a really nasty ice storm. Knocked out power and telco lines and trashed trees.

Pretty, But...

The day before had brownouts, which caused my computer to keep rebooting. I shut down the computer, fearing the constant shutdown/reboot would damage the circuits. Last time there was a mini outage, while the computer itself booted fine, the LEDs inside the case stopped lighting up. Likely caused by a power surge - still amazed just the lights blew out.

In the early Sunday hours of Sunday morning, the power went out completely - I could tell as an air purifier shut off, the computer speakers popped and my phone stopped charging. So my Sunday was spent huddling with my family near a fireplace trying not to freeze. My brother paced about with a flashlight as no power means no television - he really likes his TV. Mom figured he was imitating the furnace technician, whom as far as my brother was concerned, was just walking around with a flashlight.

He's a 38 year old low-functioning autistic. Sigh

Our home is normally heated with natural gas - which requires electricity to spark and control the thermostat. We also had an electric stove. So, power out and no conventual way to stay warm or heat up food.

While I read and napped in a sweater and slippers Mom went outside to inspect the damage. My brother followed behind, mostly out of boredom, confirming the backyard was inaccessible. A shame as the propane for an outdoor stove happened to be in the shed at the very back of the yard.

How Mom cooked a dinner of soup and hotdogs

After dinner Mom and I get into the garage, using the one use of the backup battery on the garage door opener, to grab some bits of wood and unlock the side door. In the basement we took turned cutting up this scrap lumber and space floorboard so it would fit in the fireplace better. My brother supervised.

Weirdly enough, I didn't see Maeve the whole time. She likely was sleeping somewhere.

I prep for bed early, sponging myself off with a facecloth to preserve the hot water. I had a massive headache, neck and back pain, and just felt achy all over. So I curled up in my room, not really liking that my brother and mother got each half of an L-couch while I got padding on the floor.

Hydro Came Back, But...

Evening came along when the power came back. Even then other parts of the city were still down. Course, this throw a curveball at my brother when he could turn the TV on and get no cable signal. I knew the problem before Mom made me troubleshoot - the telco wires for TV and Internet were still down. A flashing DS light on the modem all but confirmed this.

This agitated my brother more then when everything was down. He wondered the house approaching Mom and I screaming "Its stuck!" while pressing the remote buttons over and over again.

Eventually Mom said to him: "You saw the trees. The wires for the TV are down. It will be fixed the same way the power will be fixed." He got the message and prepped for bed early.

The next morning the telco came back. A 'fun' day all around.

This confused robin would agree

The ice storm devastated the area. Trees went from just budding to needing to be cut down as so much of their branches fell off. A time of write a road that is adjacent to a park and cemetery is closed due to debris. Trees have their fallen branches put around them, looking like makeshift pyres about to light them ablaze.

What I should be thankful for

A moment to point out that during this, where tempertures dipped into freezing, there was only one warming station for a city of 150,000 people. There were places, like in the toilet of a downtown where I live, they didn't get power and telco until Monday and Tuesday.

Blagh

Still, one could play a game of 'count all the ways I'm privileged' in reading this. From the photos you can see that we live in a good-sized house in a well-off neighbourhood hiding in suburbia. Mom and I have to clear out all that dead tree, including some large trees that need a professional arbourist to cut down.

Rest in Peace

Which does sound like a first-world problem. "Uh, I have to pick up this leaf matter from all these massive trees knocked down from the storm, while there are areas that don't have trees at all."

We also had a fireplace and running water - the hot water needed rationing, but one could still have all the cold water they wanted. There would be people in apartments with no fireplace, and the pumps for their water seized to work.

Again, only one warming centre. Then again, there would be places that wouldn't have any warming centres in his situation.

Lastly I wasn't alone. We were in relatively good health. No one was sick or seriously injured. I still had mom. Again, that's more than some people.

Things could be better, but at least we are not destitute.