<p>I have been reading that the power outages in Kentucky are very serious with most people not getting power back until the weekend AT THE EARLIEST.</p>
<p>Also, communities have lost power to the utilities that pump water for residential use.</p>
<p>I emailed Hindoo at her non-CC email address last night checking up on her and HEARD nothing.</p>
<p>Anyone heard anything from her? There is only so much Maker’s Mark</p>
<p>07DAD, no but now I am concerned too. I had no idea as to what was going on with power in Kentucky. Please update us when you hear anything!</p>
<p>I’m not sure exactly where in the state Hindoo is but a friend in Louisville whose power was off since Tuesday got it back about two hours ago. They’d been told it might be as long as a week so were very happy when it came back on early.</p>
<p>This is probably not the week for all of us to make our long-discussed trip to visit her! If she can get to CC, she will at least get tips on how to keep her pipes from freezing (maybe if you pour some wine down the drain… nah, never mind). She is resourceful, I’m sure she has found some creative way to keep warm and entertain herself.</p>
<p>was on my way from one location to another today (areas I’m not typically in), and passed by a bar/restaurant that has a sandwich I absolutely love. So I decided to stop in and get it to go. After I’d ordered and paid for my food, I sat at the bar, waiting for it. I looked beyond the bar to the shelves, the the first thing that caught my eye, was a bottle of Maker’s Mark. Made me think of Hindoo and wonder how she’s doing. I heard some areas may be without power until mid-February, although I don’t know if that includes where she lives.</p>
<p>I’ve still not heard back from Hindoo in response to my email of the 28th which was shortly after I saw online articles on how hard Kentucky was hit.</p>
<p>I read the same thing about power being out in some areas of Kentucky until mid-February.</p>
<p>I just wanted to post this information because I haven’t seen it anywhere in this kind of detail. We were supposed to go to Paducah, KY tonight, and since I had heard about the problems, I thought I would call our friends first. I tried several times this afternoon, and finally got an answer just now. It is a disaster area in Paducah. My friends live on the edge of town, outside the city limits, but on a well-traveled state highway. We had sleet and snow (an hour north), but they had ice. There are still many, many people without power and phone service is spotty. There is not a tree anywhere that is not damaged (this probably affects cell phone towers, too). They have brought in the National Guard, and there is a curfew. Gas stations, banks are open only a few hours a day. My friend said banks will only give you $100 at a time, no matter what. The Wal-Mart has been closed since Tuesday, and a lot of other stores/businesses, too. My friend said they had to travel 60 miles to get kerosene for the generator which they use sparingly. </p>
<p>The only good news is that it is supposed to be warmer this weekend (in the 50s), but I imagine that everyone is having a rough time. I know from past experience (used to live in Missouri), that when ice storms knock out power, it takes a long time to restore it because the crews have to work very systematically. </p>
<p>I haven’t seen any pictures of this on the news, so I thought I’d post. I don’t know where in KY Hindoo lives, but she probably doesn’t have power and may not for a while.</p>
<p>tango, I"d not read that either. How terrible. My thoughts are with them. And I hope Hindoo is okay.</p>
<p>I’m here! We had no power since Tuesday night and just got it back this afternoon. 07DAD, I got your email when I was at work yesterday, but accidentally deleted it. When I went to the trash folder to retrieve it, I accidentally deleted it again. I’m a moron, what can I say? … It’s been a miserable few days of living in a dark, depressing deep-freeze. I took our 23yo cat to stay at the vet’s, but my husband and I, our Corgi, and our young cat stayed home. (Thank goodness our girls are at colleges with functioning electrical systems.) Anyway, we sat around in front of a fire, listening to a battery-operated radio. Suddenly, it became urgent that I have access to television, which normally I can take or leave. I dug up a 25-year-old Sony Watchman, that as of now, still works. I also attempted to read by candlelight, ala Lincoln, but it was difficult and put me in a foul mood. The house ended up feeling only marginally warmer than the temperature outside, which was 20-ish. Last night we managed to borrow a generator and got enough warmth in our bedroom to make it bearable. My husband and I invited Daisy and Freddie upstairs for a slumber party, which was actually quite fun. … Now I plan to let President Obama know that part of his infrastructure-building job-creation program should include putting utility lines underground. Damage and lost productivity due to downed wires in storms must be astronomical. … Thanks all, for your concern! And 07DAD, sorry I didn’t email you back. But I will–promise.</p>
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<p>Either this is the cat and the dog, or people in Kentucky are kinkier than I thought . . . .</p>
<p>Hindoo, thanks for letting us know what happened! I had no idea that KY had such bad weather. Glad that you got your power back!</p>
<p>VeryHappy: You are correct on both counts.</p>
<p>Northeastmom: We get clobbered from time-to-time. Thankfully, these ice storms come only rarely.</p>
<p>Glad to hear you are okay, Hindoo!</p>
<p>Hi HIndoo, I hope your house temp is up to the 50’s by now! :)</p>
<p>I am glad to hear from you. It makes you realize how the partial anonymity of the web can be a bad thing at certain times.</p>
<p>Hindoo:</p>
<p>I’m glad you are safe, and with your with intact! Hope you are warm.</p>
<p>Thanks for the check-in, Hindoo!</p>
<p>I am also a resident in the Western half of Kentucky, in fact in one of the areas considered to be hardest hit. I try never to pin it down exactly on CC. The damage here is incredible and after all downed trees are removed, as well as damaged trees that are topped out and will be vulnerable to disease, pests, and winds, our area will easily lose over half of the established trees. I have been lucky to have power restored to my home after 48 hours and seeing the temperature steadily rise on the thermostat from 46 degrees Thursday morning (luckily had a good friend with excellent gas logs who invited me to their home Wed. night) to the 60s, I felt like I had won the lottery. Like Hindoo, I have developed a passion for a new issue - a federal project underwriting a mandate to bury as many power lines as practicably possible over the next 20 or so years. We should be spending money proactively instead of reactively. While such a project would not only save money in the long term, the human costs of this disaster could be avoided.</p>
<p>Good to hear from you Hindoo. It really is scary how a normal occurrence - ice formation - can be so disruptive, and deadly.</p>
<p>We get these fairly regularly in northern new hampshire but this winter has been fairly brutal. Between power outages, ice dams, chipping ice off the driveway, clearing snow off the driveway, driving in snow and ice, and just being plain cold out, warmer climes are looking better.</p>
<p>Our housing development, built in the 1970s, has everything underground. We always get everything back up and running fairly quickly (the earlier ice storm was an exception where we were out for about 12 hours). Underground utilities are a very good idea in suburban and city settings.</p>