The December 2002 Ice Storm Cometh

We had heard the prior evening on the news that an ice storm was on the way. Ice storms are an odd phenomena that can occur only under a very specific set of conditions. The temperature must be at or below freezing at ground-level, while the air high in the atmosphere and nearer the ground must be humid and warm. This typically happens in the South as a cold front from the North collides with warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. The precipitation falls as rain but then when it hits trees, wires, cars, or the ground it freezes. If the air temperature decreases just a few degrees, the rain changes to snow or sleet. The freezing rain accumulates and coats everything it hits with ice. The thickness of the ice increases as the freezing rain continues to fall. As it builds up on trees it gets heavier and heavier and the trees begin to bend under the weight. A quarter of an inch of accumulation seems to be the magic number. After the thickness surpasses that, limbs, trees, and powerlines begin to snap and fall.

So when the electricity popped off at about 2:00 AM, I was not really too surprised. It must have been an hour later when I heard the first crash, one that shook the house. I got up and looked out, but could not see anything. With all the streetlights out it was too dark. And then I heard another crash. This time it was in the driveway. A flashlight revealed a huge limb that had barely missed the car. It went that way the rest of the night, limbs crashing down like clockwork, waking me up each time. I finally stopped getting up and looking out. At about 4:00 AM , I could hear voices outside. Apparently some neighbors were up and surveying the damage. I got up and dressed in case I could be of any assistance. I walked around the yard and after nearly being hit by a falling branch I went back inside, knowing there was nothing to be done until it was light outside. It continued to rain and as the rain fell and turned to ice it continued to build up on the tree limbs and wires. I was not sure if any of our trees would be left by morning.

I finally went out again at about 7:30 AM and was amazed at the damage, there were limbs down all over but but it looked like none had hit the cars nor could I see any real damage to the house or greenhouse. We were glad we had pulled a second layer of shadecloth over the greenhouse since its single layer of 6 mil poly offered little resistance to 100 pound falling branches. Finally in the mid-part of the day the freezing rain stopped and the branches stopped falling. There had been forecasts of 40 mph winds, which would have created havoc with trees already heavy with ice, but the winds never materialized.

Around mid-morning we went out to the truck so we could listen to some local news. The things we heard were not encouraging as this was apparently a widespread event. We drove through some of the local areas. Broken trees littered the roadways. In most places enough of them had been cleared to allow one lane of traffic to pass.

We discovered the main 14,000 volt lines feeding the entire area were lying across the highway. So we got out the camping gear and prepared for a day without power. We had previously enjoyed outages as long as a couple days and while it is annoying, the time passes quickly, or at least it always had before. As I write this we have now been without power for nearly a week and there are still over 300,000 households in the area without power. I have had a nasty cold the whole time so I feel pretty miserable and the whole experience is getting a little old. Rumor has it that since this county refused to give Duke Power the rate increase they requested a few months back, Orange County is at the end of the proverbial list, and according to the figures I have seen, Orange County (even though we had less accumulation of ice than other places) still has the highest percentage of people without power in the state. There are still high tension lines (huge wires that must be over an inch in diameter and that carry 14,000 volts of power) lying in the road in front of our house. We have all been driving over them for almost a week now and no one has come out to even look at them.

But we need to stay positive here. We do have a lot of broken trees broken trees. While if any of the limbs that fell had hit either our vehicles or our house, there would have been significant damage; none did. We have a wood stove so we are staying warm. We have a camp stove so we are able to cook. We have to haul any water we need, whether to flush with or whatever but we have containers and also enough food to eat. The heaters in the greenhouse do not depend on power so the plants are all happy. On Saturday the chancellor of the university opened the showers in one of the gymnasiums to the public. Getting a shower was like heaven. I offered a warm place to sleep to any of the neighbors, most of which have insufficient heat, but none have accepted, the worst off of them having gone to local emergency shelters. Every night when we return home from work, we live in hope that power will be restored. Surely it must happen soon! I have taken pictures but cannot upload them until we get power.

Bob