Ice storm damage in the East, how widespread is it?

[skwerl]

I just got a phone call from DDM Dave in Greenville, SC and he's without power, tv and internet. He's got 8 trees down himself and is wanting to find out how widespread the damage is. From his view it looks much worse than the ice storm a couple years ago. Anyone else have any feedback on this?

 

[skwerl]

Just a quick look at the local news website I came up with this:
http://www.wesh.com/weather/5542207/detail.html

I found the following quote:
Duke Power said most of the outages in its coverage area are in South Carolina. Progress Energy said the majority of its outages are in Buncombe County.

 

[MPR2154]

There was some pretty good accumulation here in Asheville (Buncombe County), although the power outages here were localized. There were several hundred trees down across the county (in the roads - there are probably hundreds more down on private property. We were busy all day at the FD cutting trees out of the roads). From what I saw on the news, upstate SC got the worst of it (Greenville-Spartanburg, etc.)

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

We had maybe a quarter to 3/8s of an inch casing the trees. A few branches here and there, and one tree I have to take down before it comes the rest of the way down and nails my power lines, but other than that, just a good excuse to work at home today.

 

[bikepilot]

Virtually nothing up here in NoVA (Fredericksburg to DC).

 

[fmueller]

"At least four deaths were reported, including a 58-year-old man in suburban Charlotte who was lying on a couch in his living room when a 100-foot tree buckled from heavy ice and crushed him."
Got this off of MSN. Thats why I don't like trees too close to the house.
Anyway sounds like it'll all melt over the weekend.

 

[Gumneck]

Jus some rain...SE VA.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Virtually nothing up here in NoVA (Fredericksburg to DC).

That's because you are on the wrong side of the Blue Ridge. All that hot air out of D.C. keeps the ice away.

 

[Trinity Honoria]

I just got a phone call from DDM Dave in Greenville, SC and he's without power, tv and internet. He's got 8 trees down himself and is wanting to find out how widespread the damage is. From his view it looks much worse than the ice storm a couple years ago. Anyone else have any feedback on this?

hi folks
Trinity here from Upstate SC-- about 45 miles from DDM...
just got electricity back an hour ago... we went without for about 36 hours...

my front yard is ok, haven't had the nerve to look in the back yet (locked up with 3 kids, 3 cats, 2 dogs-- well i'm done!)

all around me are huge limbs down, on just saw a few on houses... but the front area in front of the college across the street looks like a tornado hit...

the Duke Power website said 61,000+ in our city lost power... which is the whole population...

i have been praising every tree-cutting person i've seen... saw Progressive electric trucks up here, lots of Davey Tree...

 

[skwerl]

AP news story- Southern Ice Storm Renders Many Powerless
Dec 16 9:58 AM US/Eastern

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - More than 700,000 homes and businesses began the day Friday without power after a frigid night allowed ice to build from a deadly storm in the South. The ice also left commuters with more tough driving conditions from Georgia to Maryland, and forecasters warned that dense morning fog could create an extra coat of ice in below-freezing weather.

Hundreds of accidents were reported Thursday, and utility companies said it would take days to fully restore power. Still in the dark Friday were about 328,000 customers in North Carolina, 358,000 customers in South Carolina and 30,000 in Georgia _ numbers that climbed from the night before as temperatures fell and ice built up.

The outages were caused when ice-laden tree limbs fell onto power lines.

At least three deaths were reported, including a 58-year-old man in suburban Charlotte who was lying on a couch in his living room when a 100-foot tree buckled from heavy ice and crushed him. Two men were killed in separate accidents in Maryland when each lost control of his vehicle and collided with another vehicle.

North Carolina's heaviest icing _ one-half to three-quarters of an inch _ came in the southwestern area of Saluda and Flat Rock, said Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service's bureau at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport in South Carolina.

 

[treeseer]

Raleigh-Durham got a thin coat this time. It wasn't our turn again so soon.

 

[Newfie]

It started to coat everything up here but got much warmer than expected and rained for several hours shedding the ice. No apparent damage in our area. Untreated surfaces are a skating rink this morning, now that temps are back down in the teens.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Not knowing what an ice storm is ,could one of you guys explain how these ice storms are made what causes an ice storm my guess is rain followed by a sudden drop in temprature ??

 

[Trinity Honoria]

Not knowing what an ice storm is ,could one of you guys explain how these ice storms are made what causes an ice storm my guess is rain followed by a sudden drop in temprature ??

as one of the recently powerless in South Carolina, this recent storm started as rain, went to sleet, froze on the branches... and then for 30 hours or so, the lovely sound of branches breaking filled the silence...

in my area, the power company gave in to public pressure and cut the power bills... the area they cut was the monthly pittance that was for trimming limbs near the power lines... hence, each time we get an 'ice storm,' limbs fall on the lines... for some reason this storm hit worse as the ice was thicker than usual (1/2" to 3/4" in my area according to the power company)...

i dunno-- does that help describe the ice storm to you?

 

[mbopp]

Not knowing what an ice storm is ,could one of you guys explain how these ice storms are made what causes an ice storm my guess is rain followed by a sudden drop in temprature ??

From what I understand the rain falls through a warm layer of air, hits the ground as liquid, then freezes if the ground air temperature is below freezing.

We had a bad ice storm in '91, my power was down for 4 days.

 

[woodfarmer]

ice

it is strange hearing about ice storms in places so far south, in the late ninties we had a very large storm in eastern ontario and quebec, they were without power for over a month in january with temperatures fifteen below zero, those large power transmission towers crumpled form the weight of the ice like tooth picks, be safe and be hopeful your temperature stays above freezing.

 

[Tree Trimmer]

Some people are saying that the damage is as bad as Ivan last year.

I'm staying with my folks. They live 12 mi. from us, but only got about 1/4 inch of ice.

We still don't have power and probably won't for another day or two.

Yesterday we craned a White Oak top off a house that has been hit 3 other times in the last two years. It broke off 25 ft. up where it had a diameter of 16 in. It also had the worst accumulation I've seen: 3/4 in of solid ice. The roof was pierced in 8 places (one was sticking 4 ft. into the living room).

Just about every bradford pear you see is laying in 3 or 4 pieces. A majority of what we've taken off homes has been uprooted pine or hemlock. Maples that had been topped 8-10 yrs. ago are showing why topping is not a good idea. I called a customer that we talked out of a topping and into a pruning. She said her maples were some of the very few with only minimal damage (only 1 limb broke from her three).

Now it's time for widow makers and up-rooted leaners that they're too scared to try to save.

I'll post pics in a day or two.

TT

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

i dunno-- does that help describe the ice storm to you?

Thanks all for the low down on ice-storms....i'm much the wiser. i hope all affected are doing ok

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It can be very beautiful, Rolla. (If it isn't too bad, that is.) A clear coat of ice on everything, and then the moon comes up in a clear sky and lights it all up. The woods are like a crystal palace.

If I can find my stinking USB cable for my camera , I'll try to post some pictures I took.

 

[turnkey4099]

Thanks all for the low down on ice-storms....i'm much the wiser. i hope all affected are doing ok

We are expecting one tonight but nothing like the ones back east. Have been under an arctic high for 3 weeks with temps to 0 and not above low 20s. It is moving today and they predict freezing rain/sleet tonight. Warm air on top of the icebox below. I think (hope) they are wrong as it is already right at 30 deg here at 10:30. At worst it will be black ice on the roads, nothing to break branches. We went through that back in 96??. Spokane was powerless for weeks.

Harry K