Ice Damage in NH and parts of MA

[keira]

We got hit pretty hard last night with a severe ice storm that covered central/southern NH and north/west Mass with a sheet of ice. Rob and I have about 3/4 inch ice buildup on our steps and cars, and we lost three trees. Some places have even more. Fortunately none of the trees hit the house, but one did land on the neighbor's deck, crushing their grill and taking out their railing on one side. I am at my parents' right now, because we have no power, and thus no heat, and Rob is at home helping neighbors and taking care of the animals. He's a little more resilient to the cold weather and there's no purpose to my being there since I can't lift trees or take the smell of chainsaws right now anyway.

Here's a link to our local news site in case anyone is interested...

New Hampshire News, Manchester News, Weather & Sports, Channel 9 TV - WMUR New Hampshire's Channel 9

It could take up to a week for us to get our power back on. Temps are supposed to stay below freezing all weekend as well. If anyone is the praying type, please keep us and others in this area in your thoughts while we struggle through this.

 

[Ghost Weim]

Oh my gosh! I don't think I have ever seen ice like that. Glad to hear that you are all ok and safe at your parents! I hate ice.

 

[sideshow_downs]

Being from buffalo i know the feelings. I will feep you in my prayers and i hope it gets cleaned up quickly and your power comes back soon

 

[wrightme43]

Thats crazy!!! You will all be in my prayers.

We had a very bad ice storm like that in 91. Electricity rocks. Life without it is very difficult. I hope you all get it back, and everything warms up soon.

 

[wolfc70]

Wow, that is nuts. Ice storms are just a pain to deal with, almost as bad as flooding. I wonder of this is the same storm system that dropped 14" of snow in my driveway earlier this week? Hope everything works out OK.

 

[FZ1inNH]

We were lucky on this side of NH. We only lost the power for about 18 hours. Two of my closest co-workers are still without power as is the downtown area where my daughter works. She's yet to be able to go to work and they are now throwing out all the perishables as they've thawed or haven't been properly refridgerated. Select gas stations have power and the lines are long enough that local Police are directing traffic in and out of them. Roads are closed while they wait for Power crews to come take care of downed trees.

All the grocery stores local to me have already thrown out all the frozen goods, refrigerated goods and produce. Only non-perishables are available.

We were close to losing almost $1,000.00 in food in two freezers here but the power came back on just as we started to consider options.

Luckily, I did have water and gas from the city so using the stove burners, I was able to keep the house very warm and the pets comfortable.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those of you still enduring this mess!

 

[keira]

We are still without power. We have moved temporarily into my parents' lake house with the dog, as the inside-the-house temps dropped below 45 degrees last night. At this point, things in the fridge can't get any warmer than they are, so it is only a matter of waiting to see what already went bad and getting rid of it. Our town, and more specifically our part of town was on the list of "worst hit" areas this morning, and we are not expecting power to be back before Tuesday at the earliest, though we haven't heard anything conclusive from the power companies. There are some towns near us that are in similar situations, and thousands of people have taken up shelter in schools and churches.

Back in 1998, we had a pretty bad ice storm that really nailed the Lake Winepesaukee region and took out power to about 70,000 people. Everyone thought that was bad. This storm took out power to over 400,000 customers in NH alone (at its peak, Friday night). That number is down closer to 220,000 right now, and dropping steadily as the grids get rebuilt and the trees get sliced down. Fortunately we have high quality water lines so the odds of our pipes freezing and breaking is very very low, but I feel very bad for the folks who are struggling financially, and now have broken pipes and no food to contend with.....

 

[reiobard]

Update:

We were fortunate and got our power back yesterday (best feeling in the world!!!). we made it through and so did all the animals and no damage to the house. there are still over 120,000 houses without power and they are saying that some may not have it back until Christmas or even after. Cleanup is a Bi#*h but i will be doing everything i can to help out anyone who needs it.

I am also looking into getting a generator to set up so that we will be all set for next time.

 

[MarinaFazer]

dang, that's nuts! You could always bust out old school and heat the house with the fireplace? I always loved that for a weekend getaway in a cabin...not sure I'd dig living like that though

 

[reiobard]

dang, that's nuts! You could always bust out old school and heat the house with the fireplace? I always loved that for a weekend getaway in a cabin...not sure I'd dig living like that though

I would have loved a fireplace.... nothing in the house for alternative heat source. We are probably going to invest in a wood stove or pellet stove this upcoming spring/summer... for now it looks like a generator is very soon in our future...

 

[MarinaFazer]

sounds good! I hope it's not too much modification to the house to put in a stove pipe...generator's not a bad idea in a little shed out back especially where you live from the sounds of it...and what the news keeps telling me. Do you have water and food too in case you get snowed in ever? I don't know if that would happen there, but I keep a case of water and some canned foods for earthquake supplies in case the big one hits and everyone riots LOL...again...

 

[reiobard]

sounds good! I hope it's not too much modification to the house to put in a stove pipe...generator's not a bad idea in a little shed out back especially where you live from the sounds of it...and what the news keeps telling me. Do you have water and food too in case you get snowed in ever? I don't know if that would happen there, but I keep a case of water and some canned foods for earthquake supplies in case the big one hits and everyone riots LOL...again...

not too much modification for a pellet stove, more for a wood stove, but still not much. a fireplace would be rough though.

we have plenty of flashlights and supplies for power outages, but no dedicated food supply because we always seem to have a ton of food in our normal stock. water is city supplied so we usually have water even if power goes out. Not a bad idea though, just in case the generator on the pump house goes out.

 

[Hellgate]

Whole house generators are great. When Ike hit Houston my mother in-law fired up the generator and was good to go, as if nothing happened. She had A/C, TV and the kitchen was fired up. The neighbors, not so much...

Kohlers start at about $2,500 for the unit itself. Not sure what the installation would cost.

 

[bmccrary]

Sorry to hear about that. I know the feeling. Here in NC we really dont get snow, just ice. Last bad storm we had was several years ago, but it was rough. Fortunitly we had a generator for our RV. We made a wire that had a decent sized breaker on it. just plug the breaker in and fire it up. Only run the fridge and basic lights. Then the Hot water heaer when needed. Its not a perminate solution like those ones you can get placed on a concrete slab, but it works when there is a problem. Might want to look into that.

Glad the power came back on. Grab a chain saw and start walking the neighborhood.

Since all of us kids were out of school, I grab the chain saw and our little group went around the neighborhood cutting up the down trees and branches and burned it all off for the neighbors who let us.

-bryan

 

[reiobard]

i would be doing one of the smaller portable type ones so that if a friend of family lost power and i didn;t i could let them use it too, no need to hog power IMO.

 

[bmccrary]

i would be doing one of the smaller portable type ones so that if a friend of family lost power and i didn;t i could let them use it too, no need to hog power IMO.

Kawaski Generator

We have one like this if I am not mistaken. Got a deal on it, as it came into the shop on a busted crate. Had some damage, but the kawi rep cut us a deal and got the parts at cost. Its kinda heavy. Takes two people to move it around. I.e. load and unload out of a truck. But it has plenty of power to run the basic stuff in a house and then some.

-bryan

 

[reiobard]

Kawaski Generator

We have one like this if I am not mistaken. Got a deal on it, as it came into the shop on a busted crate. Had some damage, but the kawi rep cut us a deal and got the parts at cost. Its kinda heavy. Takes two people to move it around. I.e. load and unload out of a truck. But it has plenty of power to run the basic stuff in a house and then some.

-bryan

that's the idea, i think mine will be a bit higher capacity and probably not a brand name to save some $.

You can probably get a wheel kit for that generator, i found a lot of them on Amazon while searching for generators. (not buying a generator from Amacon, but it popped up in my searches...

 

[FZ1inNH]

Also Rob, if you get the pellet stove, you will need the generator regardless. It requires electricity for the starter and the auger.

We are looking into a generator as well, but I want a switch installed so I do not back-feed into the grid and risk harming the utility workers who are working on the wires as well as causing brown outs for a close neighbor. Looking for one that runs on natural gas since I already have that piped in. I'll never need to fuel it to run it.

 

[MarinaFazer]

Also Rob, if you get the pellet stove, you will need the generator regardless. It requires electricity for the starter and the auger.

We are looking into a generator as well, but I want a switch installed so I do not back-feed into the grid and risk harming the utility workers who are working on the wires as well as causing brown outs for a close neighbor. Looking for one that runs on natural gas since I already have that piped in. I'll never need to fuel it to run it.

Yea, here in CA we need to have full self-sustaining units. No piped in gas because it may break the pipes when the shaking starts of course out here another option is a few solar panels :rockon: us hippies...

 

[reiobard]

Also Rob, if you get the pellet stove, you will need the generator regardless. It requires electricity for the starter and the auger.

We are looking into a generator as well, but I want a switch installed so I do not back-feed into the grid and risk harming the utility workers who are working on the wires as well as causing brown outs for a close neighbor. Looking for one that runs on natural gas since I already have that piped in. I'll never need to fuel it to run it.

yeah, i know that the pellet stove will need electricity, that is one thing that is going strongly for the wood stove, but the ease of pellets and how clean they are is a huge plus for us since we don't have a ton of yard to use... but since we would have the generator first then it should not be an issue for the pellet stove. I would also be getting a battery backup for the pellet stove for the shorter outages that i don't feel like getting the generator out for. A switch is a good idea as well, but if you are sure to shut off the main breaker in the panel then you should have no issues with back feeding to the street.