Ice Storm With No Electricity

About 12 years ago we were living on a back road way out in the country. It was winter time and we knew it was going to snow a lot so we were semi-prepared. We had total electricity in our home, so we borrowed a kerosene heater from a relative, got some kerosene and some groceries, cat food, and had the snow shovel waiting. When it was all said and done everything was weighed down or broken by ice, we were practically buried in snow,the electricity was out for 6 days and it was bitterly cold. We had 2 small daughters. We survived by only using the Kitchen and living room and blocked the rest of the house off to stay warm. We had a fireplace that we had never used, we gathered wood and cooked our food using it. We had all the supplies we needed to see us through till it was over. It was kind of a cool experience.

 

Oh Sorry for that experience Hope it didn't affect your little girls negatively however you were very lucky to have woods, In such Situation woods all you need to fight that coldness,
I am glad you managed to spend six days In that situation I can immagine how you must have felt, I would hopeless and wonder when that nightmare will end.
The ice storms are normal but the worst part is of it is not having electricity! Which is why everyone need the know sorvivors basics for example you really need to know how to make fire with woods and they need to know how Keep controling the fire this can be done with water in your sittuation otherwise even dust help controlling fire to avoid setting your house on fire

 

One good thing about winter storms is that the weathermen can usually tell when a storm is going to hit, and many times, they can also predict how bad it will be and if there is the potential for an ice storm. Here in northern Alabama, we seldom get snow, and only in a few inches when we do get it; but even that is enough to devastate the whole area because no one here is prepared to deal with even that little bit of snow, including the road department.
People do not have snow tires, they do not have 4x4 vehicles, and even if they had all of that, they have no clue (for the most part) about how to drive in the snow.
Preparations here are basically that everyone goes to the grocery store and buys a lot of bread, milk and eggs. Now, this might be fine as long as the electricity stays on; but if there is an ice storm then even though it will probably be back in the 50's by the next day, all of the power might be off for days because of branches coming down on the power lines, and roads will be closed as well.
This is why it is good to have some non-perishible foods, as well as a source of heat like you had with your fireplace. I have used kerosene heaters before, and they can easily smudge up the wick; so it is important to know how to use one and how to keep the wick cleaned if you are going to try and use that for heat.
Also, that is not a safe heat if you are in an unventilated house. Since you had the fireplace, probably you had enough fresh air coming through that the oxygen level stayed high enough, and you didn't have problems with the fumes from the kerosene heater.
Given the choice, I would definitely choose the wood stove for sure !

 

Our house is almost paid off, but one thing I hate is that we don’t have a fireplace! In a long term power outage or grid collapse we would have no way to heat the home. I really hope to buy a cabin someday with a woodstove and a couple acres.

 

Speaking of fireplaces, Lodge makes a cast-iron grill that will fit in most any fireplace. Our fireplace is big and two of these grills will fit therein; just take out the grate. We can cook in our fireplace using metal adjustable height racks, or the regular grate with large iron arm (18" long) hook holding cast iron pot. The arm will hold larger iron pots than I own; I think that I could hand from that dang thing. Just like our ancestors, using a big pot / "Dutch Oven" you can make up all manner of stews or soups or bean&whatevers or potatoes&whatever+carrots, or ... .

Get your fireplace and chimney in order by having it checked out by a chimney cleaner. Our chimney man recommended a mason to put the fireplace firebricks right. The mason also cut a hole to the outside so that the fireplace would not be sucking its needed air out of our house. The outside to inside pipe is adjustable for airflow and delivers the air straight into the fire -- if you want an inferno (I don't) but you can get yourself one.

So if you only have a small fireplace, this Lodge Sportsman's Grill will still fit and you can "grill out" inside your house.

Again, remember to have your fireplace and chimney inspected before using it! Chimney fire = not good = house fire if you don't have the means to shut down this mega-dangerous event. I've got I don't know how many stories. In the houses in which we've lived, I've always had wood stoves. This house I'm going back into history and putting in the ironworks that our ancestors used in their huge fireplaces. Remember that in centuries past, foundries and blacksmiths made all manner of metalworks -- I couldn't even begin to list what all they made.

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...MIptrv-sPg1gIVwkOGCh1haACdEAQYAyABEgJMIvD_BwE

http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-and-care/sportsmans-grill-use-and-care

http://www.firepit-and-grilling-guru.com/campfire-dutch-oven.html

 

We had an ice storm here about 20 something years ago. Let me tell you South East Texas has winters without any real freezes and it never snows enough for an accumulation. What this means is that our people and our trees don't have a clue how to deal with a massive ice storm. The trees all dropped limbs on the power lines and all the roads had an inch or more of black ice on them. The power went off and people couldn't drive in that stuff.

LOL, I was trapped for 4 days in the little valley I lived in. My cars and trucks couldn't go up the hills to get out of that valley!! We hung blankets over all the doors and windows and brought in the propane grill both for heat and to cook and just camped out in the livingroom/diningroom/kitchen. It was actually a lot of fun. All the kids and most of the adults in the valley were on those same hills with cardboard sleds flying up and down the roads.

I also had a couple of Coleman catalytic heaters so it was a little cool but nothing to worry about. We always have enough food for a few months on hand and even back then several ways to cook. If it had gotten seriously cold we have snuggy sleeping bags for camping that are good down way below anything we see here.

The secret to turning any sort of weather based power outage is pre-planning and pre-paring. If you wait until the problem is upon you it is usually too late. Even if we had been able to get to town I bet there wasn't a non-electric heater left anywhere in town for sale. Just like all the poor dumb people found out after Hurricane Harvey, the things that you will need VANISH almost instantly so if you want to have those things you need to buy them when you DON'T need them.

The needs for an ice storm weren't a lot different from what I always had on hand for Hurricanes and such. The biggest need is plenty of food, water and a way to cook. I also have a lot of old board games and non-electric lighting so boredom doesn't make me have to kill the children of all ages.

 

LOL, if we get 2" of snow the schools close and a lot of businesses shut down. Everyone wants to go out and play in it! I've only actually seen that much snow three times in my life. We just don't get snow in any real amount that you can do anything with.