Ice Storm 2009

…artistically beautiful, realistically devastating

It started on January 26th as an ice storm then turned—by the end of the 27th—into a region-wide disaster with up to an inch of ice clinging to trees. A week or more of freezing cold without power, cable or phone service was not a pleasant experience for most. Fortunately, I have a 3500 watt generator, plenty of gas and oil, a wood-burning stove with lots of great firewood, flashlights, batteries, candles, matches and 40 gallons of fresh water in safe containers and lots of food. I was ready, most were not. Here it is February 10, 2009 and still thousands in the region without power. Surviving the week with no power was easy for me compared to the more than a week of cleaning up the damage following the initial week of the storm. My chainsaw and I have been working overtime clearing storm debris. Sadly, almost no tree in Fayetteville or the surrounding area was spared damage from the ice. Trees and tree branches littered the roads and highways alongside hundreds of downed cable and power lines. I’m told the power companies that service the area had 9700 splintered, snapped, downed power poles which had to be replaced. The worse in the approximately 70 year history of the Arkansas power companies. What a challenge it has been. I can only imagine how hard it would have been for my ancestors to have to live through one of these.