Surviving Winter Ice Stoms

[Adventure Wolf]

Living in North Carolina, I have only had to deal with a single winter ice storm in all my years of existence. It was a terrible storm that destroyed several trees, bent the pine branches down and took out most of the power lines. I was a kid at the time, and where I was living we didn't even have firewood for the wood stove. It was a terrible debacle.

For those that live in colder climates, especially in Minnesota and that area or Alaska, how do you all prepare for winter and specifically these ice storms?

[Rick]

You really can't prepare for an ice storm very much. We've had several here. You can do generic planning of course like getting a generator or trimming trees back so they don't end up on the roof. If it's in the forecast you can protect your vehicles either by getting them indoors or under some type of cover. Getting in a vehicle that's been left outside can be a chore sometimes. The rubber gaskets around the door will freeze to the body of the vehicle. You can keep kitty litter or shop clean up in your vehicles but that's just part of winter preps. Travel should be avoided until the roads are clear. Be prepared to spend a day or two at home. Keep an eye on house gutters. Ice can build and take them off the house. If you have electric gutter heaters make sure they are turned on. If you don't have them then a sock filled with salt tossed in the high end of the gutter can help some. That will help keep a brine solution in the gutters and help melt the ice.

[sjj]

removed...

[randyt]

It's best to hunker down during a ice storm and keep extra supplies on hand like firewood or kerosene.

[hayshaker]

it,8,degrees right now at 7,06 in the morning , got up at 6,30 and gnd the house was cold
got the wood stve going which tqakes a bit to heat the house. the bathroom thismorning felt like the back porch
almost.id put gloves on butthen i could,nt type.time to put some coffee on i think.im in mn near the SD border.
the weather people are saying -20 below by wed and it,s only the middle of november, this is going to be
a bad winter.normaly it dosent get that cold till late december mid-january.

[BornthatWay]

As Rick said keep trees well trimmed. If you have a wood stove be sure you have some wood out of the weather to get a fire started if you lose power. Get a box of fat wood from Walmart or a couple of those log starters work well get your fire going nicely. Be sure you have a way to heat some canned food and also some water. Of course if they are calling for an ice storm be sure you fill your bathtub with water for flushing commode. Have other water either in pots or bottles for drinking and cooking.
If you do not have a way to heat your home without electricity get a small tent that is free standing and put it up in your house. Everyone's body heat will help to warm it up and make it a little more comfortable.

Get a single burner propane stove for about 20 bucks and invest in some one pound propane canisters to be able to heat water for warm drinks and you can heat up some canned soup.

Just pull out those camping supplies and make do the best you can. The good thing about ice storms is that it usually warms up a few days after one so the ice melts and you can get out if need be.

If you have little ones or elderly you may need to try to find a place to go to keep them warm until the electric gets back on. This is the reason you want to have an emergency cash fund available. How much is up to the individual but at least enough for a couple nights in a hotel and meals out.

Also be sure you have your gas tank on your automobile full when you hear the weather report calling for this type of weather. Be sure you have your cell phone charged and get one of the movie or other external battery packs for your cell phone. Be sure you keep your cell phone warm as in a pocket so it does not get too cold.

If you have a generator be sure it is in good working condition and you have fuel for it. Be sure you know what you can hook up to it and be sure it sits outside of your home and not right against your house. So be sure you have a heavy duty long extension cord to plug into generator and then plug appliances into cord.

[Old Professor]

Ice storms are far more of a hazard than snow storms. The weight of accumulating ice can bring down power lines, even with out trees and tree limbs falling on the lines. Restoring electric service can take many days , so having an alternate power source would be a high priority. Roads become virtually impassable, due to lack of traction. Chains help some but not so well for stopping. My action plan is just sit out the situation until power comes back and roads have been salted/sanded/ plowed or what ever they do in your area.

[Rick]

I have actually walked down a span knocking ice off the lines. The ice was so heavy the lines stretched until they were about 5 1/2 feet off the ground. Beat the ice off with a lineman's hammer and the lines went right back up once the weight was off them. Even I was amazed.

[Adventure Wolf]

Thanks guys, this is not something I have to deal with often to really know about things. If anyone ever has a question about hurricanes prep or any common south eastern hazard, or a wilderness hazard I would be more then happy to repay the favor by answering questions about them.

So here's what I have for winter saved up. I have some money left over, and can buy more if necessary.

- All of my wilderness survival, hunting and camping gear
- 2 Generators with 25 gallons of gas
- 4 wheel drive 1994 Ford Bronco (351 Windsor Engine and Transmission rebuilt in 2010) w/good tires, snow chains, tool box and winch)
- Two entire oak trees cut as firewood
- 12 gallons of drinking water and 120 bottles of water
- 100 cans of food
- Winter Blankets
- Battery Operated Radio
- 2 Mobile phones (1 person, 1 business) with solar powered battery chargers)

Of course I have all the basic flashlights, batteries and general purpose stuff.

[hunter63]

Need candles and beer.......and beer......might be a long pull....and beer.

[1stimestar]

Yep, we just hunker down and wait it out. Since I live in an arctic region, I generally have good tires and always have 4 wheel drive. Gravel trucks and snow plows are common here so it's normally just a day till the roads are driveable. Since I live in a waterless cabin, we haul all our own water so don't have to worry about not getting publicly supplied water. I always do make a water run before an expected event occurs. Since I'm still renting, we don't have a generator but will once I buy my own place.

[crashdive123]

Before I joined the Navy and was still living in a place where that white stuff falls from the sky there was a very serious ice storm. I was attending a community college which was closed due to the storm. However I needed to get to the campus to complete some work (I had keys to the building I needed to work in). Roads were treacherous. I laced up my skates and ice skated 6.5 miles to the campus. It was kind of fun skating down the middle of the road. Yes, weather was clear, but there were no cars on the road.

[Rick]

If you have your ginnys and you are running your TV then a few movies might be a good idea and games. It's really not so bad when all you have to do is sit back and enjoy just spending time together and wait for life to return to normal. Avoid using salt on your sidewalk or concrete driveway. Salt brine will cause the concrete to pit.

[randyt]

I thought it should be thrown out there, run those generators outside.

[LowKey]

That's no joke. That ice storm we had a few years back, one of my co-workers almost gassed himself by putting the generator under the house eave to keep the rain off. Trouble was the exhaust went right up the attic vents and into the house.

We had power out for two weeks in that one and roads were impassible for 3 days. In the next town over the damage was so bad, they just bulldozed the whole mess, electric wires, poles, and tree branches out of the way and had to restring pretty much the whole town.
One important thing I learned, never trust the electric company telling you when the power will be back up. Ours didn't have an emergency plan capable of dealing with the scope of the disaster. They had no reciprocity in place. They had no damage triage teams. It finally ended up that a different electric company with linemen from as far away as Ohio got the power back. After they had finished with their own customers. I don't care what you say about National Grid, I'd buy those guys coffee any time.

Another thing about the electric company, they do not fix damage below their roof connection. If you have a stack, pole or line that runs from the connection to your house, and that is damaged, you need to call in an electrician right away to repair it or the line crew will pass you by. They won't connect you and getting them back can take forever.

Cell phone towers can be damaged. We lost one of ours and it's never been replaced. I get really terrible reception now with the cell.

Adventure Wolf, have you ever run your generator for a long period of time? Do you know how much gas it will use in 8 hours? Multiply that times 6 for 2 days.
How close is your nearest gas station? Does the gas station have a generator? Of all the stupid things I found out, none of the stations in the area had generators to run the pumps. Had to wait 3 days for roads to be cleared to get gas at a station 10 miles away that had power.

Secure your generators with chain and padlocks. They can become a commodity. There were thefts up and down the valley here after the storm. None were available in entire area for a radius of several states.

A chain saw is a valuable tool to have. With mix oil and chain oil.

Keep your refrigerator closed and your freezer covered with blankets and/or down comforter. If you think power is going to be down for several days, think about what you are going to do with the food about to spoil in your fridge. We had a big cookout after 5 days. The weather was too warm to keep stuff frozen the first week, then dropped below zero the second.

Get a GenTrans. Far more convenient (and safer) than running extension cords or backfeeding your house through an outlet (with the main shut off, I see Rick cringing.) Luckily I had one of those already set up.

Think about your heating system a little bit. I could run mine off a little 8000watt genny, though I couldn't run it higher than 45°, but had plenty of hot water because the tank runs off the boiler. If we'd had an electric water tank, there would have been no hot water. You do not know the meaning of "good hot shower" until you can't have one for several days.

Firewood is good if you have a woodstove. A fireplace isn't going to keep you too warm. We ended up sucking more cold air in than heating the place. So we had one of those oil radiator plug-in things that also ran off the genny and basically stayed in the one bedroom on the lee side of the house. I just got a fireplace insert last winter. Best investment ever. The fan doesn't work when the power goes out but those little heat activated ones circulate enough if needed.

When it got cold, we had blankets over all the big glass - the slider and the bay window - and over the doors. I stapled and taped plastic over the windows on the windward side of the house. I always keep a roll of heavy plastic in the garage attic. One of those 20' x 100 foot things. It has to be rotated out every 3 years or so if you don't use it or it gets brittle. Mine becomes cold frames then I bring it to work to be recycled.

We had a couple neighbors who have wells stop in for buckets of water for the toilets and to use the shower. We have town water that didn't stop running. They didn't want to use their drinking water to flush. The lake was already frozen over. I suppose they could have chopped a hole in it but I don't remember it being safe yet to walk on. If you have a well, getting a generator is a really good idea. The neighbors ended up at the shelter for most of the two weeks cuz they just weren't into it.

Have a plan to evacuate. A lot of my neighbors that stayed in the shelter didn't think to go back to their house and crack the faucets when the cold settled in. A LOT of burst pipes. I have to admit by day 13 I was pretty done with the sheltering in place. Was very glad to see those linemen show up.

The other thing is practice. My dad used to pick a weekend in summer (no stress then) and throw the house main for a weekend. Of course it was all planned so as not to lose any food, usually the same weekend was used to defrost the empty chest freezer, somewhere in June before the strawberry harvests, but at least it was practice.

[Adventure Wolf]

I have multiple chainsaws and I know all about my generators, I've run them on construction sites long enough to know how they handle.

[Tokwan]

How come I never did any of those things? Wait..oh yeah..I live in Malaysia..no winter for me...hahahahaha

[Rick]

If you backfeed your generator the other precaution is to ensure what loads your ginny will run. Backfeeding will allow everything in the house access to the generator and you could overload it very easily. You would need to know which breakers, besides the mains, that you need to shut down in order to be "right sized" for your generator load.

[Adventure Wolf]

My father rigged the circuit breaker box of his house to allow for back feeding (I have no idea how he did this). I don't feel comfortable doing this. He has a plug under his circuit breaker boxes. I will be over at his in a few hours, so I'll take some pictures and show you what I'm talking about.

[Rick]

I installed a generator transfer switch and wired only those things I wanted to run through the switch. I also hung a step by step instruction sheet on the power panel in case I wasn't home and my wife or someone else needed to fire it up.