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Blizzard 2009
Usually we don't get much snow here in ( East- ) Tennessee ,
but if we do , everybody goes crazy
since the most southern folks are not used to this white stuff.
For me it's a blast , I always take my 4WD out for a fun-ride .
Years back it was my Eddie Bauer Explorer , these days it's my BOG-mobile ( 95 Suburban ) .
I don't have these big rough looking mud-all-terrain tires ,
but with 4WD and some driving skill's you get around fairly good with just regular tires with this 5000lbs ( 2.5ton) SUV .
This past Friday afternoon ( Dec 18th-2009 ) it hammered an unbelievable amount of snow
( between 1 to 2 feet = 30 to 60 cm )
within just a few hours all along the entire east coast , which obviously brought traffic to a stand still.
I had to go to town to pick up a few things , which usually would have taken me maybe 1hr ,
and I ended up being on the road ( partial off-road , ha , ha )
for about 8 hrs till I finely got back home by 2:00 am the next morning .
What happened , within just 1 hr , all roads going in and out of my home-town where blocked ,
and I tried every road I could think off to get around , I can not sit in a traffic jam , before I do that , I go “my way” ..
Since I wasn't the only one thinking that a way , all these back-roads been blocked too .
Knocked over tree's , car's and trucks sideways and flipped over across the roads ,
Unfortunately I didn't had a camera with me , therefore I was only able to take some photos after I got back home ,
but below are also some links for videos and photos from news and private people …
The reason why it took me so long , I ended up pushing or pulling other peoples cars out of my way ,
once to clear the road for me and others , plus trying to be nice and help others …
But it was just a never ending story …
the chaos on all these roads , no matter inter-states or back-roads was unbelievable …
Most of my neighbors , working in and around my town , didn't make it home at all …
The next morning our area looked like a ghost-town ..
You only could see my tire-tracks from the night before and the rest was an untouched thick white cover all over …
And guess what,
I had a blast that night,
when ever do you get the chance to push other people's cars around and getting a “thank-you” for it ?!
Maybe it's about time that I finely do get me these rough, big, off-road-only tires
to have even more fun in this type of weather.
here is a video which shows the road conditions that night
( even thought not much action in it ... )
this is very similar to how it looked in my neighborhood
and this one is a photo slide-show from the next day
here are my photos from that night after I got back home :
from the newspapers :
Tri-Cities struggles to cope with storm's effects; shelters open for those without power and water
The damage left in the wake of Friday’s snow event left county and city crews out all day Saturday
to restore services and try and bring roads back to traveling condition.
Thousands were left without power, municipal services such as water were shut down as electricity to pump stations went out with the weight of wet snow collecting on and snapping tree branches and power lines on the way down.
“Some of the worst I’ve seen,” said Scott County Emergency Services Coordinator Jeff Brickey
after being out most of the morning Saturday surveying the snow’s path.
“In some places, it could be a week before everything gets back to normal. We are just asking our residents to be prepared to ride things out with what they have at their homes right now, and if they need emergency help, they need to contact our emergency center.”
A state of emergency was declared in the county at 4 p.m.
Friday and seven shelters have been established for residents to come and stay if necessary:
• Gate City Middle School.
• Hiltons Volunteer Fire Department.
• Nickelsville First Baptist Church.
• Dungannon Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
• Three Bells Methodist Church in Duffield.
• Maranatha Church in Yuma.
Brickey recommends that folks who do decide to stick it out at their homes need to stock up on such items as batteries, nonperishable foods, flashlights and prescription medications.
City of Kingsport Community Relations Coordinator Tim Whaley said the city is working with the American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee in setting up shelters for residents at the Civic Auditorium and at the Ruritan Club location on West Carters Valley Road.
In addition to the locations at the Civic Auditorium and West Carters Valley Road, shelters were set up at:
• Fall Branch Volunteer Fire Department in Fall Branch.
• Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Gray.
• The Health Department Annex in Elizabethton.
• Mountain City Elementary School in Mountain City.
• First Baptist Church in Erwin.
• The Fall Branch Volunteer Fire Department in Fall Branch.
Water customers in outlying areas of Kingsport saw water slow down to a trickle
or go completely dry due to pump stations going without power.
“In the Lynn View, Ridgecrest, Indian Springs, Sullivan Gardens, Willow Springs and Rock Springs area,
those folks need to go ahead and begin conserving water as soon as possible,” said Whaley.
“Appalachian Power is working feverishly to try and restore power so we can get those stations back working.
Again, it is going to be one of those situations where people are going to have to exercise patience
as we and (the power company) have a large area to cover with service.”
The American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee opened a shelter at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium on Friday evening.
More than a dozen motorists who’d been stranded on Interstate 26 or Interstate 81
spent the night at the shelter, volunteer Ron Blevins said.
“They all left (Saturday) morning,” Blevins said. “Law enforcement gave them rides back out to their vehicles.”
At about 2 p.m. Saturday there were 17 people at the shelter,
Blevins said — most from area homes that were without power, water or both.
Blevins said most of the people at the shelter Saturday were brought there by emergency medical response services.
Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Jerry Fleenor said volunteer fire departments and rescue squads across the county had been running calls nonstop since the snow began Friday afternoon.
“We’ve been extremely busy,” said Gary Mayes, Executive Director of Sullivan County Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
“We’ve had a steady number of calls and responded to a lot of fender benders. And we’ve had people needing help in their homes and wanting to go to the emergency room. Sometimes people run out of medication or have medical equipment in the home that won’t function when they lose power. And we’ve responded to that type of call. ...
If we can provide what they need and they can stay at home, that works, but if not, we take them either to the hospital or a shelter.”
Fleenor said emergency responders also try to help people without power or water go to a friend,
relative or neighbor’s house if that’s an option.
“This is the worst snow we’ve had in several years,” Fleenor said. “It seems to have caught a lot of people off guard. ...
They either didn’t hear it was coming or they didn’t believe it was coming. If we’re going to have to help someone move because they don’t have power, we’re trying to do that during daylight hours.”
A representative with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office said most of the primary routes had been scraped by snowplows,
and crews had removed a majority of trees and other fallen debris from roadways.
Most residential areas should have at least one clearing by snow removal done by Saturday afternoon or evening,
the representative said.
Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville resumed a regular schedule of operation on Saturday
after the heavy snow bumped flights Friday.
“While the Airport terminal and runways remained open for business as usual during the evening,
some carriers canceled flights due to the weather,” says Melissa Thomas, director of Marketing and Air Service Development.
“We are encouraging passengers with travel plans today to confirm their flights by checking with their specific carriers,
either by 1-800 customer service numbers or on the carrier’s Web site.”
Motorists stranded in storm retrieve cars; those without power seek shelter
The day after a massive winter storm, people in the Tri-Cities are still dealing with the aftermath. With several inches of snow on the ground, and more in the forecast, Saturday was all about snow for people in the Tri-Cities region.
Friday’s snow brought smiles to kids faces all across the area, but it also created a dangerous mess on area roads. “I hit a patch of ice and slid across and ended in a ditch down there,“ said Douglas McDonald,
who was on his way to work in Bristol when the storm hit.
Countless cars like McDonald’s slid off Interstate 26 near the Eastern Star Road exit. “It was pretty scary yeah,“ said McDonald.
Casualties from the storm can still be found littered all over I-26, where people abandoned ship Friday night, and walked several miles for help. Some, like McDonald, came back to rescue their cars. “I’m digging myself out trying to get home,“ said McDonald.
Others, hired help. Tow truck drivers worked furiously Saturday to rescue hundreds of cars abandoned during the snowstorm. “We’ve been on the road ever since this started yesterday,“ said Charles Buchannan, a manager for Browns Mill Wrecker Service.
He worked for more than 24 hours straight and said his crews could not even get out to help people on I-26 Friday night because conditions were so trecherous. “It was just so bad it was about impassable out here last night,“ said Buchannan.
The situation also caused thousands to lose power throughout the area, like Laurie McEwen and her family. “We spent the night and my whole head was about to freeze off,“ said McEwen. They live outside of Kingsport and by Saturday afternoon could not take the cold any longer. “It’s just too cold out there,“ said McEwen.
So they headed into one of several Red Cross shelters open for the night. A welcome warmth on a cold cold night.
Motorists stranded in storm retrieve cars; those...
The day after a massive winter storm, people in the Tri-Cities are still dealing with the aftermath.
Winter weather strikes East Tenn. as drivers begin holiday travel
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Many people planned to hit the roads to head home for the holidays this weekend,
but winter weather could cause a halt.
Drivers who spoke to 6 News Friday afternoon said they're being strategic about when, how and what they drive.
The mantra of drivers Friday afternoon seemed to be what Debbie White, of Oneida, said,
"I just want to get back home before the snow starts."
Josh Porter and his family were driving from Paducah, Kentucky to Kingsport, Tennessee.
When he heard the weather report, he quickly revised his plans.
"When we woke up this morning, we thought we need to make sure we got there this morning just for safety reasons," Porter said.
Porter knows how to drive in the snow, slowing down and being extra vigilant, but he's not so sure other drivers are as cautious.
Chris Cook of Clarksville, feels the same way. He trusts himself in the snow, but not others.
"I'm not really nervous about the road conditions themselves,
but some people don't know how to drive in the snow. It seems especially in the southern states freak out," Cook said.
Lynette Wallace's husband was on his way back from Florida Friday night.
She says he has a lot of experience driving in the snow,
but still she asked him to take extra precautions so he arrives home safely for the holidays.
"I just asked him to trade in his car for an SUV in case he needs the 4-wheel drive to get here," Wallace said.
The snow is expected to move out of the area by Sunday.
my "the day after" photos :
now it's time to get out the R/C snow-toys !
click the images to view the video
more snow-stories to come ....?
maybe ....
we will see .....
Willy
CustomRCmodels
Dec 2009