Massachusetts Ice Storm: Day Five Without Power or Heat for Countless People
Monday afternoon, as some areas became fortunate to be up-and-running with electricity, people were kind enough to share their generators with those who are still without heat and lights, which are countless. I am sharing a generator today and will have a few hours of power, which is heavenly after five days of getting around with candles and flashlights.
In my area, the devastation from the ice is beyond comprehension. The landscape, literally altered, resembles a war zone, for lack of a better description. Although it warmed to fifty degrees by Monday afternoon, everyone here battled one to fifteen degrees last Friday and Saturday night without heat.
Saturday and Sunday, except for the room with the woodstove, which we blanketed off from the rest of the house, my home hovered between thirty-six and thirty-eight degrees. Obviously, it was unbearably cold.
All my family came to my house because with a woodstove, we had the only heat in any of the homes. My grandkids kept warm after discovering overnight, what it truly means to be colder than you have ever been before. Five days without heat and hot water has taken its toll on all of us, but it is especially hard on the children.
My home in the woods, which I love and adore for the peace and tranquility, became a terrifying confine during the Thursday, all-night ice storm. Surrounded by six acres of woods, hundreds and hundreds of ancient pine trees and huge limbs snapped and tumbled nonstop on and around my home for an excruciating twelve-hour period.
At 5:30 A.M. Friday, a huge pine tree surrendering to the weight of the ice, broke off like a toothpick and crashed onto the house. A limb from the tree pierced the roof and propelled right through the wood ceiling of my den, where I was resting and trying to warm my bones by the fireplace.
My husband was making his way back to the den, when he heard the hideous crack of the tree. He was running and screaming for me to get out of the den, as the tree hit, which rumbled the entire house, and the branch came ripping through the wood ceiling.
Some wood, which shattered, fell on me, but I was unharmed. It was a bit surreal, however, to smell fresh pine instantly filling the room. After such a narrow escape, I am eternally grateful to be OK.
Because many of the schools here and in surrounding towns, are now temporary shelters, many will most likely not open at all this week, according to various reports. Power crews from around the country, though, have been working in shifts around the clock to get Massachusetts residents back to normal.
The temperature today is 31 degrees and Mother Nature is not going to give us a break. We are expecting snow late in the day. Adding salt to our fresh wounds, meteorologists are also predicting freezing rain. With everyone’s nerves still rattled from the last storm, it could be a very long night.
