<VV> Kentucky gets Electricity??

[James Davis]

It all depends on how well you are prepared for an emergency.  With two 
inches of  ice on everything in the predominantly rural area, there is 
no power.  I built all structures to carry a  80 lb/sqft load so the 
house, shop, and barns all survived intact, even if there are a few 
branches on the roofs.

TVA's major supply line, a 250,000 volt high line, lost two steel towers 
and the nine, one inch power cables are in Kentucky Lake blocking barge 
traffic.  We are hopping for power into the county by Sunday, power to 
the substation by the fifth of Feb and power down the road by Valentines 
day.  As we have two power poles down to the house, maybe we will be 
lucky and have power to the house by March.  The National guard has the 
major roads clear but it will take a month to clear all the county roads. 

We have a stand by genset wired to power the house so water and  
lights.  I did it a year after we bough the property.  House heat is by 
a wood stove (95,000 btu). and the shop is propane heated.  The farmer 
across the road has 500 gallons of gasoline which he sells at $1.50 a 
gallon   The Rampside carried my 50 gallon fuel tank across the road 
Monday night so we are set for this week   The phone and DSL to the 
house is by buried fiber optic so it is always up.  The about 1/2 of the 
cell towers are down or isolated so no cell service (thanks AT&T).  It 
took hours with a chain saw and  tractor with front loader to clear the 
1,000 driveway of limbs and trees.
 
How repaired are you for every store and gas station within 70 miles to 
be closed for at least a week or more?  Major highways closed because of 
downed power lines.  Local roads blocked from fallen trees.  No cell 
service.  Low temps about 22 and highs of 32.

The good news as we are prepared are you?  After all we had a weeks 
notice it was going to be bad but some don't listen.
Jim Davis


Chris & Bill Strickland wrote:
> All you mid-west-ish folks that are on ice and powerless to do anything 
> about it -- you have my greatest concerns for staying warm and keeping 
> any stock fed and watered -- of course the folks I'm speaking to 
> probably won't get this message for a while, but our prayers are with 
> you anyway.
>
> One of the problems we've had with the ice storms is when it warms up, 
> and the ice starts to get soft -- it no longer supports it's own weight 
> and that is when the trees really start to come down -- a sudden warm 
> rain to melt it off fast seems best ...
>
> If you really do get cold, don't forget the Corvair, or anything that 
> burns gas (like a 1960 heater), can be a good source of warmth -- just 
> leave the garage door open if you are going to run it inside a building.
>
> Godspeed!
>
> Bill Strickland
>