Ice Storm, Day 2

So we had snow fall Tuesday night which just made the limbs heavier and caused more destruction. We had no power all Tuesday night, but it came back on Wednesday morning. Somehow we are some of the lucky ones who have had any power at all, though ours goes out for a few hours each day. Our neighbors, friends, and family are almost all without power and the power companies estimate 3-4 weeks before they can get the power back on to most people. We had people coming over to use our showers, charge their electronics, eat some warm food, etc. Generators are completely sold out for hundreds of miles and so today my dad drove 2 hours south to buy 6 that my uncle found him, which he already has buyers for when he gets home. As a result of having no power, most people have no water either. All the stores are sold out of gallons and bottles of water at this point too. Yesterday at 1pm, our city lost all water as well. So those of us on city water were also without. The main water pumps still do not have electricity so we have been running off reservoirs and those have run dry at this point. There have already been 9 deaths related to this ice storm, and 17 counties are declared in a state of emergency. There are a lot of elderly people who can not get their oxygen machines or life support machines to work without electricity, and also those who can not get out to get their medications. Almost all businesses are closed and most people are out with chainsaws trying to clear roads and driveways to help people get access to those who need help. The prison even has inmates out using chainsaws to clear roadways. I can't help but think to myself, "only in Arkansas do they give inmates chainsaws..." but so far they haven't had any troubles! We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one.

See the ice build-up on the power lines?

Here's a close-up of another power line.

Here's part of the destruction we woke up to outside our front door:

And this is where that destruction decided to land :( We don't think anything is broken, but the limbs are so heavy we can't pick them all up yet to see. When it melts we'll be able to pick them up no problem and assess the damage then. Thank goodness for insurance!

Part of the dog's kennel, which was pretty much completely beaten down by branches. But the ice is pretty...

This is my darling little plum tree and my darling little dog. The poor plum tree is covered in icicles, and is getting its revenge by stabbing my goofy little dog in the face and back as she tries to walk underneath. She's just lucky a branch didn't fall on her head :)

Remember the cherry picture from yesterday? Well with the accumulation of snow and more rain, the icicles went from about an inch long to about 3 inches long.