For those who’ve been away from TV, the news, and weather: much of Nashville is still iced in. The last update was 90,000 customers still without power.
I’m one of them.
The ice storm that hit over the weekend (really? just last weekend?) knocked out power for over 200,000 at around 6:30 AM Sunday. It’ll be back soon, I thought.
I had prepared for a few days of lost power and no travel. I have outdoor cooking options, a wood burning fireplace, a gas fireplace on the other side of the house, and a gas stovetop. Firewood was gathered and what was left was bundled safely under a tarp to stay dry.
The last run at the grocery store included milke and bread (it’s the Southern way), canned goods, snacks, sodas, and tp.
Portable battery stations were charged along with every single portable battery in the house. The trusty Eton crank radio was nearby as were three rechargeable flashlights.
Sunday was miserable as the thermometer on my phone said it was 15 and would be 9 by morning. We threw extra blankets over us and the kittens (Barney and Lucy). Monday morning, the coffee pot was connected to a battery station so the day started a little more normal.
“It’ll be back on soon,” I kept saying to the wife. And to myself I guess. We’d never lost power for more than 2 days. But through the energy efficient TV now plugged into the battery station and a TV antenna, I learned over 200k customers had lost power across the Nashville area.
200,000 homes is roughly half of all the homes in the Nashville area. All out at the same time.
Fortunately, the power was restored for a very close friend across town who offered us a place to sleep in warmth and keep the hairless kittens from freezing.
We left the now 37-degree living room Monday evening for what we were sure would be one night. It’s now 5 days. While I sat in the den Wednesday (or was it Tuesday?), I heard the power pole in front of the house crack into three pieces yanking the lines now loosely connected to the house.
That’s the current situation. No power. No utility trucks. And the temperature will drop again tomorrow.
But I’m thankful we never lost a connection to the Internet. It was slow the first couple of days when people in other non-powered homes were all crashing the nearby cell towers. Now that many of my neighbors have power (and WiFi) again, the internet is a little faster. Not normal, but I’m not seeing the LTE icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
The point of all of this is to explain why there’ve been no new “What the Tech?” stories. I tried.
Be grateful for a warm house, fast internet, and good friends. Because without it. Life is really hard.
