Midwest Ice Storms Cause Power Failures and Fear

Ice is heavy and cold....OK, so you knew that, but that is one of the inherent dangers in a severe ice storm. Icy road conditions cause major accidents in which rescue workers are unable to respond in a reasonable time. Homeowners watch outside their homes as trees are broken in half by the heavy weight of the ice on the branches. Power lines buckle under the excess pounds of icicles hanging from them like tendrils of doom. And the cold temperatures mean power failures can cause dozens of deaths. All of this adds up to a deadly combination. This time, the Midwest was the victim of this deadly storm.

All across the Midwestern United States, millions of people awoke to ice up to 1 inch thick over every visible structure. Images of the ice storm are haunting as you can imagine. One person can attest to this - Chris Caldwell knows Midwestern ice storms better than most. As a professional storm chaser, Chris had this to say about the ice storms...

The area that was hit the worst is 90 miles to my south. We had an 1/8th of an inch of sleet mixed with rain. To the east in Osage County there are roads closed all over from downed power lines. The news cast for KOCO TV 5 in Oklahoma showed tree trimming trucks and line crews from as far away as Indiana and New Mexico and other crews from Texas, Arkansas, and several other surrounding states. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company (OG&E) reported it as the worst storm their history based on the number of homes without power. They are estimating that as many as 1.5 million people have gone without power assuming an average of three people per home and over 600,000 or more homes without power. The most current information on power outages is available at the OG&E website.