Stuck in the TN emergency level 2 ice! Use me to learn!

Sorry to hear about the mess. What skills have you had to use? Would love to hear about the practical applications for any?
My family lived in the mountains 25 years ago and we had a bad ice storm that took out power and blocked the roads for a week. My wife even had the flu and we were out of medicine. Being our first winter there we were unprepared and didn't have enough firewood put in.
I took all the meat out of the freezer and cooked it over the woodstove and then took it all outside and buried under the snow. Wild dogs came during the night and carried it all off.
I had to go saw up branches that had come down and knock the ice off to burn in our woodstove.
For medicine I fortunately remembered exactly where there were both wintergreen and mullein growing and along with some rose hips for vitamin C managed to make medicinal tea for my wife.
That was one hell of a week. Huge patches of hemlock and pine trees were knocked down as if the jolly green giant had stomped through the forest. You had to break holes in the ice just to walk up and down the hills. Somehow we made it though and without the survival skills I'd learned earlier it would have been a pretty miserable time.
Good luck and I hope things get back to normal soon for you and those affected.

Aside from knowledge the things I found most important that week were: new bow saw blades, lamp oil, books and board games.

Last Edited by FlashBuzzkill on 02/22/2015 12:52 AM

We never lost power and that is strange.
All the deep sheets of frozen snow started coming off the roof today.

Looks like our problem may be flooding.
We have had some down town pipes burst but they have been handled.

The danger of flooding is our biggest worry now.
We will be trapped up the mountains, while the others will be flooded down below.

If we do now get washed own on them, they could come up away from the river.
We are watching things if the mountain goes to looking like it will slide or wash away risky bad, we will top it and follow the ridge.

Thanks for the bump. I'd like to use this thread as a step by step to tell people what I had and what I should have had.
First and foremost, heat. It was -2 and had we not had natural gas we would have used a heater buddy that runs on propane. We have enough to make it a week... we sealed off the end of the house and moved kids to the living room that has one of the 2 natural gas heaters. I remembered doing this as a kid, thankfully. Again, had we not had natural gas I would have also covered the windows with clingy plastic that I picked up on sale a few years ago.
Next, pfft, as bad as it is for you, Ramen noodles. Put a pack or 3 in a pot and fill with hot water. Cover and in 15 you'll have done if the finest prison soup ever. We've also started to use the things from the fridge. (Quickly getting everything out and putting back as fast as possible).
So at this point, we are fed and warm.
Next comes the water news... Conserve water because there's only a days worth left. Yeah well, I have 3 kids so I'm getting water. From knowing how bad tap water is we drink bottled. We have kept the empty containers in the pantry and filled then up immediately. Along with the bathtub for water to flush the commode.
Knowing that there was hot water left each of us took a FAST shower, and used the last of it to clean every dirty dish that could be found from the past day. We then got out the disposable everything. Each person gets one cup and they can see how it used to be done for a few days. Drink from the same cup. Rinse it out for a different drink. Plates are disposable as are utensils. We have emergency water on top of daily needed water. Pretty f'n impressive for me at this point!!!
Next was light. Since we are pretty spoiled there's always a lack of batteries no matter how many I buy so that's one thing I need more of in the future, BUT I had gotten 3 emergency candles that burn 100 hours from eBay and even though the flame is small, it shines light. Good deal.
Oh also, we filled up all animals water to the max. Have a lantern, but am scared to use it or the Coleman stove because even though my parents used them and I knew to get them, I'm chicken shit of blowing up or having carbon dioxide poisoning. I may get brave to be able to cook tomorrow. Maybe not.
Waking up this morning to trees falling and power lines coming down everywhere was not expected. We have been out 1 time in the past week due to snow and had planned to go restock today when the rain melted the ice. Yeah, didn't work out like that...
Lastly that I can think of for the moment is GET a power inverter for your car!!! We started a vehicle, ran an extension cord into the house and had a phone charger AND a way to continue incubating our hatching chicken eggs. We have a generator, but no gas, just empty gas jugs. When gas hit $4 we used them when in need. Not being broke or lazy, just trying to save a little. When gas went under $2 I had planned to fill them up, but we all have plans that we put off. Don't really see the need for it at the moment anyway. Food is safe, etc.
On to the eggs, we have since given up on running the cord to the vehicle after finding out just how long we would be without power. So we put all 30 eggs that are due to be hatching tonight through Tuesday into a 10 gallon fish tank. Put 6 hour hands under a towel, warm towels wrapped along the sides, and have set it on the top of a dresser beside one of the heaters. Added 4 chicks that hatched a few days ago and covered the middle with a warmed towel making a somewhat convection oven. No clue how it will work, but the chicks are now warmer from the heat from the eggs and it seems to be a win win. We shall see.
Let me know if it's worth reading and I'll follow through on how this experience goes.
And any suggestions would be wonderful. As bad as this could be, I am over the moon thankful for the knowledge and for my kids to possibly learn from this as well.

Where might you be? I'm in the hardest hit area. The pictures from the area look as if it just survived the apocalypse. Electric can't be worked on if they can't get down the roads. 3 of 3 houses I can see have lines down in the yards. It's so widespread it's nuts.

Avoid those powerlines

After rereading I realize I made it sound like a water hog. Not so, I got 1 gallon per day per person with a few extra. Just wanted to make that clear.
Once again for simple things that you'd rather not give up on day 2, the power inverter for the car will make my morning coffee. Get one, best thing so far.
Wish I had: more batteries, gas, and that's it so far.
I'm taking the time to post this as it goes so you can learn from my shortcomings. Please know it is being written to help others. To read that some have no heat, meds, etc has made me cry today. It is horrible. I will be getting a clunker 4 wheel drive, that's now on the list.
OH OH OH OH!!!! I FORGOT!!! This is so so very important!!! So when I awoke to see power lines all over I wasn't thinking about the damage being what it is and called 911 thinking this is very dangerous. I now know that 911 shuts the hell down when this happens. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. You are raised to think no matter what you can call 911 and someone, anyone will help. I momentarily panicked to learn sometimes you truly are on your own. Things change when you realize that if you need emergency help aka medical that there is NO ONE. Know this as I was not ever expecting that. They can't get to you and you can't get to them. It's the reality and man is it scary.

Last Edited by BFE Aphrodite on 02/22/2015 01:48 AM

Agree! And thanks for contributing

Good thread! :)

Thank you! I remember following someone's thread from hurricane Sandy and it had taught me a lot. Trying to return the favor to someone else.

ice all over the place. Thick.

Delmarva peninsula.

power okay at the moment. Wanted to check the outage map - the ice is way thicker than I expected.


not looking bad!

[link to www.delmarva.com]

Last Edited by beeches on 02/22/2015 02:08 AM

Get your stuff together. I went to bed expecting the usual then trees started to fall. Never ever seen ice as thick as this! Here's a sad confession, even at my age no power means no light and well I still get kinda scared in the dark.

true, but I love the dark!

can't say that at work, but at home - the beautiful snow cover will reflect some light, I hope!

ice is on walkways, streets, cars, tree branches.

Last Edited by beeches on 02/22/2015 02:09 AM

we have lots of flashlights at the ready.

Water, food, and clean dry clothing.

Car 100% tanked up.

but - my neighbor has the wood. will have to visit her or move in!

As for your fridge just fill a cooler with ice from outside. Now is when you really appreciate having a small propane stove, water filter, spare batteries, candles, oil lamps, canned foods and disposable eating utensils.

Other handy items: chainsaws, fuel, tire chains, extra medications, unread books, a car charger for your phone & Ipad.

Plan on dumping the fridge into the coolers in the morning. Hers to day 2 in a few hours. The only reason I don't like the dark and I'm in the country is because it's just spooky. I'd take country spooky over city spooky any day lol.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.

Our family lives in Tulsa and we had that big ice storm a few years ago and BOY! was it an eye opener! We were without power for 10 days. It sure is the best way to learn what you did right (and wrong)!

Take good care of yourself and that family!
My husband and I will keep you and your family in our prayers.

Oh I also wanted to mention what we did to prepare for "lighting".
We bought (at the end of the summer clearance sales) those solar lights that you can buy individually or in packs. We bought 2 (6) packs and simply put them outside when the sun came up to recharge them and then they just come on when it gets dark. It worked really well for us and we didn't have to use so many expensive batteries or worry about the kids with candles. Hope it helps! :)

Ha, I have those! They haven't been used, got the little .99 cent ones just for this. Thank you so much, forgot about them!

u can set up a small tent indoors for the kids to keep warm ..... they can play games and sleep in ...... keeps the
body heat in .....

stay safe .....

Where in are you in Tennessee for those of us that don't know the area that was so hard hit?
I know how it feels.... Several years ago we had a bad ice storm and did not get power back for a week. Fortunately we could eventually get out and go to eat out but our area took a big hit and was one of the last restored.
Yes indeed, there has been great info on many threads that have allowed me to get ready for this happening again. But the actuality of having it happen is when you find out just how well you were prepared!
Hope you get power and water soon!

I always have propane, 250 gal water,and many can goods. Sometimes we get bad ice storms in Oklahoma. I've only gone two weeks without power.

My sympathies for your troubles, really do appreciate your notes. I'm down the road a bit and yes, this was the worst ice storm I have seen here in the past 15 years and I don't think I have ever seen ice hang on for as long as this round.

I stayed up pretty late the first night, had two large branches come down, and two more that will have to be handled with a chain saw. I consider myself very lucky with this one.

I'd suggest oil lamps.....inexpensive, long-lasting, puts off heat in addition to light.