Homesteader News

                                        Surviving the Ice Storm of ‘09

  Last winter, January 27^th  to be more exact, Mother Nature hit most of Kentucky with the worst natural disaster in recorded history for these parts.  I am referring to the Ice Storm of ’09.  We had had many ice storms in the past, so we were expecting the same scenario as in the past.  Slick roads , some downed tree limbs, possible short term electric loss, etc.

We had plenty of food in the pantry so we didn’t get excited about the weather reports.

We should have. We were six days without electric, other folks were twice that and some even longer.

  I made a few observations from that event I would like to share.

1)      With no heat our Coleman lantern and candles would only get the temperature of the living room up to 42 degrees. That was maintained by putting plastic up to seal off the rest of the house.

2)      42 degrees is not very comfortable for inside living.

3)      It takes approximately 4 hours to heat up a can of soup over a candle.

4)      No matter what kind of vehicle you or your friends have, when there are hundreds of trees blocking the roads, it may be a while before you can get any help.

5)      It really sucks not having a good cup of coffee when you want one.

On day three of the ordeal, the debris from the storm had been cleared enough that my brother and some good friends were able to get within a mile of our place and we hiked out.

On day four we were able to get to the nearest place that had kerosene heaters for sale, 60 miles from where I live.

A kerosene heater will heat my living room up to 82 degrees when left on high.  

You can cook on a kerosene heater and make some drinkable coffee.

 The point I would stress the most to readers is if you live in a total electric home, you need an emergency source of heat.  We got a kerosene heater for just over a hundred bucks and I now keep at least 10 gallons of kerosene in my storage shed.

When the storm hit, 100% of my county was without electric for 48 hours.  Emergency management had to meet in an suv at the county seat..  Local radio was off the first 48 hours, as well as cell phones and land lines.  We were basically cut off from the rest of the world which was a very eerie feeling. Even after we were “rescued”, it was an hours drive to find a store with electric, to buy even a cup of coffee.

Propane can be used to run many small appliances in the event of a power outage. Propane stores very well and is fairly inexpensive.

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