I am going to post a day by day account of how we lived without electricity/heat in the ice/snow storm on Oklahoma over the last week. It will be in several posts, so will be continued. It will be boring to some, but my hope is that someone can take something away from what we learned in our week, in hopes that they don't make the same mistakes we did. Please feel free to ask any questions.

 

Day 1, Thursday, January 28th.

 

The ice storm started about 7:00am this morning, much earlier than the noon predicted starting time. I found it hard to believe the day before it had been 68 degrees and even when I got up at 2:00am it was still 50 degrees outside and I thought to myself, they must have made a mistake.  Hubby was supposed to drive 70 miles north, to Norman, for a conference today, he stayed home. The ice continued to come down heavily. All schools all over the state had already been closed the night before, as they said this ice storm was going to be bad, worse than the blizzard we had on Christmas Eve. Since we were all home we cooked a big lunch of tacos, we don't normally do big lunches.

 

About noon the electricity goes out. I call the electric company and report the outage, knowing from past experience that the more people that report, they check out those outages first. They were already working on it and said the power should be on about 5:30pm. So we're thinking 5-6 hours, we should be ok, the temp was in the teens outside, ice was steadily coming down. I had jacked the heat up to 75 this morning, knowing that the ice outside would make it harder to keep the house warm anyway. In the first hour without power the temp dropped 10 degrees to 65 degrees, in the second hour it dropped another 5 degrees to 60. We try to do a little cleaning, some reading things that don't require electricity throughout the afternoon. It starts getting dark, so we break out the flashlights, candles and oil lamp and crank up the battery operated FM radio to try to get a weather report. We were careful to keep the refrigerator and the big freezer closed to keep things from spoiling. 5:30 comes and goes, no electricity. We fix a dinner of sandwiches and chips, read by candle light and wrap up in blankets as the temp has dropped to 50 degrees in the house by 9:00pm. About 9:30-10:00pm, I call the electric company to see if they have any "updates" about the power and they do, now the first chance it might be back on is going to be Monday, February 1. We are like OMG, kind of in shock, LOL, this can't be happening. We were cold, tired and went to bed.

 

Bed was the only warm place in the whole house, but only if you had something over your head too (thank you, to whoever invented the hoodie, as we lived in them for 7 days). Eventually the ice stopped, the earlier forecast had predicted a couple of inches of snow to fall on the 1-1/2- 2" of ice we had already received, but by the time we went to bed there had been no snow. All night long we kept hearing trees splintering and what sounded like gun shots as the trees were breaking and crashing to the ground, under the weight of the ice. It wasn't a very restful night.

Day 2, Friday, January 29th.

 

I forgot to mention, at this point we have no cell phone service, it went out right after the electricity did yesterday. Our entire town has no electricity, neither does the town 5 miles south, or the next three towns north. No one out here has electricity for miles.

 

Having had a nights sleep and waking up to a 40 degree house, seeing your breath in the house is just not right (BTW you can see your breath at 50 in the house). We skip breakfast, we go into the bathroom and move the towel stand from in front of the natural gas bathroom heater and figure that will give out a little bit of heat. A quilt goes up to seperate the front 3 rooms (north side of house) from the back side which has the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room and all the water pipes, one of our main objectives was to keep the pipes from freezing. We have left all water taps running the night before to prevent any freezing from happening. We put up quilts over several windows to keep in the heat and try to keep the cold out. I move all the food, like sandwich meats/cheeses, eggs, milk, things like that into the big freezer to keep cold and to prevent as much from spoiling as possible.

 

We take a break for lunch. I break out my food warmer/chaffing dish (tip I learned over on AFT)  and put in 12 tealight candles in the bottom, threw in our leftover taco fixings from the day before and heated them up. This little emergency cooker I used with a 9 inch metal cake pan on top to cook with and a piece of aluminum foil covering the top, became our main way to cook over the next few days, as the weather was not permittable to cook outdoors. So were were able to eat a hot lunch of leftover tacos.

 

Shelter In Place Order Issued: After lunch we sat down to rest for a bit and try to get a weather report, as the snow had now started to fall, we were wondering how many inches we were supposed to get, 1-2 inches were expected. After the weather report they issued a shelter in place order by the governor. They also asked all businesses to close, unless they sold emergency supplies or food.

 

While it was snowing, but still daylight, we were able to get outside to survey some of the damage to the house. One side of the house we cannot even get to as there is a big tree down. Tree limbs on the electrical wires leading to the house, big tree next to the pool down. Pool pipes underground will all need to be replaced and the concrete dug up and replaced, as they have frozen with the temps dipping below freezing and no water running through them. Front yard three trees totally down and more limbs off the remaining tree. The metal t-post of the clothesline has been broken in two by a fallen tree. Not sure what type roof damage there is yet, as there are still trees on the roof at this point. Back in the house to "warm up".

 

By the end of the day we had gotten the temps back up to 46 in the house, there is no sun in sight and temps in the lower 20's. By this time it's starting to get dark and we fix the famous Frito chili pie for dinner. heating up the canned chili in the chaffing dish food warmer,  and pouring over the Fritos, topped with grated cheese. It was good to have something hot. We also discovered that with the hot tap water (we have a gas hot water heater) that you could make warm (not exactly hot) but warm tea and instant coffee and hot chocolate. We played UNO by candle light at the kitchen table for about 3 hours before going to bed. For light we were using an oil lamp and 10 votive candles and 2 Yankee jar candles in the one area and flashlights when we had to leave the room for any reason. All in all, the day went fairly well. However, I am starting to feel sick, like a cold coming on or something.

 

Our first mistake was not getting those blankets up the first night when we knew the electricity wasn't coming back up for several days. We should have got that bathroom heater going and the blankets up that night. Second mistake another procrastination, waiting to buy my alternative heating source. Hubby got to hear several times throughout the day about the alternative "heat source" that I had wanted to buy and didn't because he said we really didn't need it. He said "you never listen to me any other time, why did you listen this time?" LOL. I had wanted to buy a ventless, natural gas wall heater to put in the living room, as there is an active gas line, since our house was built in 1930, they used to heat by those before installing the CHA. I knew it worked because we had it capped when we moved in. Anyway, I procrastinated, I should have gone ahead and done it anyway when I thought it needed to be done.

 

Our land phone line was still working, so we touched base with some different friends, alot of whom we could not get hold of, probably had cordless phones and they don't work if there is no electricity. Those that I did get hold of, one good friend, her house was 40 degrees inside, they were cooking on their porch using a camping stove for meals. Neighbor behind me (my mechanic) has a generator, I could hear it running periodically. Another friend has a propane heater and a generator. 14 year olds boyfriend has a generator, most of her other friends are "freezing" they say, one's house is 30 degrees. So alot of people are in the same circumstances.

 

 

Day 4, Sunday, January 31st

 

We woke up the next morning to find we had our full water pressure back, we later found out that overnight, our town had received a generator from the state so we could still get our water supply. Also at the American Legion Hut they will be serving hot meals and have heat from the hours of 10:00am and 10:00pm. We live in a small town, pop 1200 and hubby and I discussed whether we would go there to eat and decided not to, that we were doing ok and that there were probably people that needed it worse than we did. We later found out that they were/are feeding 500 people a day.

I found a friend in Lawton that had electricity, so we decided to go there to take showers, even though we had hot water, I did not want myself or 14 year old to have wet hair in the cold house, especially since I wasn't feeling that great to start with, so only hubby had been taking showers.

 

I toasted us bagels in the little cooker and we ate them with peanut butter and had our hot tap water tea and instant coffee for breakfast. Then got things packed up and ready to go.

 

It took about an hour to get the truck thawed out enough to even get on the street, the ice was 1 to 1-1/2 inches think all over including the tires. We finally got on the road, only passed 2 vehicles in our town on the road, both trucks, got on the 5 mile road to the turnpike, only a couple of vehicles on the road, electric company trucks and other pickup trucks. Got to the town 5 miles south, the grocery store was open but had no electricity, they had pushed a shopping cart out to the side of the road that said "we are open". Nothing else open in that town. Got on the turnpike to go to Lawton, not many vehicles on the road, only trucks and SUV's.

 

We got to my friends house, I had brought my nebulizer to take a breathing treatment, I figured I would take one since I had the bad cough and had not felt so good, since the electricity was available. We took showers, blow dried hair, started a load of laundry, charged our cell phones.

 

We needed gas for the truck, but our friend said alot of places were out of gas, but we found some. Then went out into town, looking for a place to eat, half of Lawton had electricity and half did not, so hardly any stop lights, mostly stop signs had been put out. Any restaurant that was open was packed with long lines, so we went to Chili's and waited in line to eat. it was so strange to see one block with electricity then 2 blocks with no electricity, then some businesses with electricity, then no electricity. After about a 1/2 hour wait, we got to eat, then headed to Walmart. At Walmart the electric company had a representative and a table set up that you could talk to to see when your power was going to be turn back on (tentatively). Now it has been pushed back to February 3nd, Wednesday, at 11:00pm. We bought the last chain saw that Walmart had, as ours broke in October and I neglected to buy another one. Don't procrastinate! We bought hubby a birthday cake, I was planning on baking one the day before, but we know that didn't work out as we had no electricity. Even with knowing the electricity was going to be off even longer we were in the attitude of "bring it on" at this point it just didn't matter anymore how long it went, because we had received an automated phone call from our state representative, Joe Dorman, that we might be without power for 10 more days and so far we had been ok, so what's a few more days. We were looking for a cell phone car charger, which normally Walmart has them, but guess what, all sold out. Once again, don't procrastinate, get what you need now! Hubby and I have the same type cell, 14 year old has a different type, so we were looking for either/both types. Next stop Radio Shack, also sold out of car chargers for both phones, finally at some Battery store we found one car charger to fit 14 year olds phone. We figure at least one cell in case of emergency when traveling, that's the best we can do.

 

Back to friends to pick up laundry, took another breathing treatment as coughing is getting worse. On the way home back through the town near us, Gas Mart is now open, running on a generator, as no other electric around, tons of people filling up gas cans and vehicles. Home before dark. Another dinner of hot dogs, but we had real buns this time. UNO in the bathroom for 3 hours before heading to bed at 10:30.

 

11:30pm. started having real problems with my asthma, no nebulizer since no electricity, so had to drive the 25 miles to the hospital ER. They gave me 3 breathing treatments, each 10 minutes apart. The first Atrovent (sp?) and Albuterol and the last 2 Albuterol. Then a steroid shot and Levaquin. Told to followup in morning with regular doctor and pick up more meds at pharmacy in morning. Back home about 2:00am, ok for the rest of the night.

As soon as hubby gets home from work, he starts the charcoal grill and gets it going. We move the rollaway bed into the living room and get all the bedding moved while it is still light, so we can see. We already have two couches in the living room, so we are set for sleeping arrangements for the night.

 

Dinner, is what's thawed and tonight it's a package of steaks and a package of pork chops and frozen (or not so frozen) broccoli. hubby will take leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Friend had brought 14 year old some Jiffy Pop for the grill, so we popped the popcorn, cooked the steaks and chops, and I cooked the broccoli on the cooker. So far this was the best meal we had made and the most normal. having to eat what's thawing does not make for a balanced diet. Also, the fact that the house was cold, no one wanted to eat anything cold, we had fresh citrus fruit, but it was cold, canned fruit, again cold, salad, cold, cereal and milk, no one wanted anything cold to eat. We were already freezing we didn't want to add cold food to that.

 

After dinner, we read by candle light, a nice change of pace. The living room had warmed up to 60 degrees where it would stay. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax and be warm. Again we were early to bed at 9:30pm.

 

I wish I had not procrastinated on alot of my preps buying, I knew I wanted the ventless gas heater. I should already have a car cell phone charger. I should have replaced  the new chain saw as soon as the other one went out. I want a camping stove, so I am going to look for one at yard sale season time this year. We had "canned heat" but I never tried cooking with it.

 

Services we didn't have:

 

No cell service for the first 3 days

No electricity

No water, but just a few hours

No trash pickup

No local paper deliveries or to paper stands/so no real access to news at all the radio news is almost useless.

 

The thing that did surprise me:

We got mail everyday (delivered to the post office)

That the radio did not have more news or weather than it did

That we got automated phone calls from our state representative on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day letting us know what was going on.

The amount of people calling in sick to jobs because they had no electricity, again I thought wouldn't you want to go to where there is heat and water? Especially the doctors calling in sick?

 

Personally, I was surprised that our normally pretty healthy diet went to almost being non-existent. We had the fresh fruit and veggies, but no one would eat them because they were cold. No one wanted to eat anything cold, except things like snack type foods, chips, that type stuff.

 

I have some pictures I will try to post tomorrow.

 

I did forget to mention that there has been looting through all this, not in our small town I didn't hear of any, but when we got to Lawton, 25 miles away and got a newspaper and talked to people who had watched the news. People are breaking into homes and schools that have no electricity and there is no one there. Alot of people have gone to relatives or are staying in shelters and leaving their homes vacant and they are getting broken into. In alot of cases the guys fixing the electrical lines have been reporting suspicious behavior and catching the looters.

 

Up for discussion in our household now are a generator and a propane heater, once some come back into stock in this area.

 

The last couple of days the temps have been in the 40's and the ice has started melting off which has presented another danger. Anywhere you walk you have to watch for falling ice hitting you and watch where you park your vehicle. I hear chain saws in the neighborhood. We are not going to start chain sawing until this weekend when hubby is off work, as he doesn't get home until dark anyway. I have heard that the more trees are also falling as the ice melts and causing further problems for the electrical repair. Plus is started raining yesterday, so that does not help.

 

As far as cleaning while going through all this, we tried, but the sun never was shining throughout all this and still isn't, so even with daylight, you could not see like you can with lights on. With our wet muddy feet and dogs tromping through the house with their wet muddy feet, my floors were a mess, which we could not really tell without the electricity on, it didn't look so bad in the gray and dark, LOL.

Looters take advantage of power outages

Posted: < =text/> wnRenderDate('Tuesday, February 2, 2010 9:33 PM EST', '', true); Feb 02, 2010 8:33 PM CST

LAWTON, Okla. - For most people, the ice storm is causing them to dig deep into their pockets for money for generators, hotels, and tree trimming. Unfortunately, Lawton police say there are people profiting from storm victims. They say burglars are going into homes with out power and taking whatever they can get their hands on.

This power outage is unlike any one we've had in the past, because the power outage is affecting entire neighborhoods at a time. It's been so cold, burglars know no one will be home and neither will their neighbors. That means a lesser chance they'll be caught.

Bobby Henderson said he's been without power for almost a week. When he went back to check on his house, he found out he was missing more than just electricity.

"I don't have a big HDTV anymore, my play station three is gone, my bedroom had been ransacked, and my back door was kicked in."

Henderson says the amount of property stolen from his home totals about $10,000, but he says his first concern was losing something far more valuable.

"I spent most of the day yesterday changing my checking account, changing credit cards; my first worry was about identity theft."

He's already called his insurance company and Tuesday went to buy new locks and doors.

"You know just all the difficulties dealing with this crippling ice storm, and this adding on top of that, it just really tests you," he said.

Henderson said he can only imagine the type of person who's out there preying on those without power.

"There's just that small handful of people out there that are just scum," said Henderson.

All Henderson said he can do now is hope things will get better.

"That's one of the sad things, when you get burglarized you're really pretty numb for the first few hours," he said.

Police say if your house is in a neighborhood without power, check on it regularly and be sure all your windows and doors are locked.

Emergency officials urge Texomans to stay home

Posted: < =text/> wnRenderDate('Friday, January 29, 2010 7:25 AM EST', '', true); Jan 29, 2010 6:25 AM CST

Unless it's a matter of life or death, stay home.

That's the message Comanche County Emergency Management officials have this morning.  They say it's too dangerous with power lines down all over Texoma.  And roads are very slick as temperatures remain below freezing.

 Emergency vehicles are having problems getting around with the downed power lines and icy roads.

Officials are encouraging all non-essential businesses to close today.

We have reports that several roads across the area are closed due to downed power lines or trees, that includes I-44 from Elgin to Chickasha.

Officials are swamped with calls and emergency vehicles are having problems getting around.  There have been several reports of ambulance and fire trucks stuck on the ice because they haven't been able to get any traction.

There are power lines down all over Lawton, including across some major streets.

The ice snapped poles that fell across Lee Blvd from 52nd westward.  PSO officials say there is a one-mile stretch of poles that are down there.  Power lines have also broken along parts of Rogers Lane. 

And those are just a few.  PSO says they're approaching 200 poles that are down.

They say one contract line crew worker suffered non-life threatening injuries trying to get a line off I-44.

Again, if you don't have to leave your house, don't. Stay home.  And, if you own a non-essential business, close.