Ice Storm
It started Friday, February 12, 2021. Freezing rain fell over southern Virginia, accumulating one-half to three-quarters of an inch of ice. Trees encased in crystalline shells can be beautiful, but the devastating effects on power lines are far from invoking aesthetic appreciation.
Power interruptions began overnight. My own house went dark about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. I expected it. Living in Virginia for the last 20 odd years has taught me well. My bathtub was full of water, and a few gallons of drinking water were lined like soldiers on the kitchen table. But as the day wore on, and the eerie silence popped with trees snapping and limbs crashing, I knew we were in trouble. My redbud in the backyard slowly collapsed like a time-stop video. The river birch we planted in our first years at the farmhouse lost all three top limbs, just missing the porch roof. Other large limbs littered the yard, fell on fence lines, and blocked the driveway.
The horses stood in their stall watching the world turn icy-white and droopy. I managed to shove their large water tank under the roofline to catch run-off. In their blankets, and lots of hay seemed to keep them content.
But the weekend turned to work-week and still no power. Co-workers and friends were in no better position. Southside Electric Cooperative (SEC) posted updates on Facebook of working hard to access and repair, while we half-joked about “helmet-watching” on SEC’s online outage map.
The various color blocks on the outage map brought home the enormity of the situation. SEC’s Facebook posts became less encouraging as SEC listed the number of broken poles and downed trees, and gave detailed descriptions of what the crews were dealing with; tangles of trees, too-wet conditions, and a large number of broken or damaged poles.
Today, Friday, February 19th, I am still dark as well as 22,000 plus other SEC customers. Frustration is rising in the community. Just last night a Facebook post gave the disheartening information that SEC was predicting 90% of customers are expected to be back online by Thursday, February 26th, and 100% by March 1st.
I am lucky. With our woodstove and small generator, we are able to keep our house warm and fridge cold. We are collecting water from roof run-off. We are managing. But I fear for so many others who do not have the resources or ability to get through this. There are families that need electricity for life-saving medical equipment. Are there folks recovering from COVID in dark, cold homes? Businesses that are already struggling with COVID now may have to shut doors.
I fully recognize the storm was historic and decimating. I know the SEC linemen are working long hard hours in cold and wet conditions, many of their own homes dark.
But I have many questions. Are we getting disaster assistance from the Commonwealth of Virginia? Why is SEC seeming to indicate they have all the extra help from neighboring co-ops and tree services that it can handle? insert Post. Is there not an emergency plan, either county, region, state, or federal level, in place to help SEC with this level of management? Where is FEMA?
I have placed a call to Tim Kries, Director of Member Services as SEC this morning, but have not heard back. I will continue to seek more information from SEC as well as our state representatives and will update as I can.
Keep safe, all.
