Here we go again. Just five months after the last "greatest storm of the century," which, by the way, really wasn't, now we get socked with another really "great storm" which really is a great storm. I can remember the last time St. Louis got iced in - it was in the late 70's and I was still in high school. I was on the phone with a friend when she said, "Did you see the lightning out there?" The next morning, we went outside our homes to find an ice-covered wonderland. Of course, being the cocky teenagers we were, we went outside to see how much skating we could get in. I remember icicles hanging from the gutters that almost reached the ground.
Last summer's storm knocked out power to area residents for as much as nine days. We were very fortunate that we only lost power for three days - my neighbors were out for all nine. Food loss wasn't that bad for us because we were able to ship all the frozen food to my mother's apartment in Bridgeton (she still had power).
Now that we have had the first major winter storm of the season, we are once again very lucky. We have not lost any power, but our phone was out for two days. Right now, static on the line is so bad, that we may as well be out of service. My neighbors, however, are not so lucky - again. The very same neighbors who lost power for nine days last summer are now out of power for going on two days. I can almost feel their frustration at once more being thrust from their homes to hotels or relatives and friends' homes for refuge. One of my neighbors had water coming into the house - how much is not known. They were finally able to shut off the water.
The ice and snow created an icy wonderland that reminded me of the big ice storm from so many years ago. The sun peaked through the clouds and streamed down through the icicles, becoming iridescent and beautiful. As I was driving, I had to constantly remind myself to keep an eye out for downed power lines instead of enjoying the icy show. The icicles weren't as impressively long as I remember from the last ice storm, but that was okay by me. When I arrived at my mother-in-law's house, I discovered that she, too, was extremely fortunate. She still had power and phone service. However, on either side of her home, there were downed power lines and her street was blocked off in front of her neighbor's house.
My opinion of this latest storm is that it is worse than last summer's storm. While I still believe this storm still isn't the worst storm of the century, I believe it might run a close third or fourth. Last summer's storm, even with the heat, was still workable. A person still could get around town if needed. This storm has most people trapped in their subdivisions waiting for snow plows to clear out the streets. Last summer's storm didn't leave a couple of inches of ice on the cars - this storm did. Cleaning off cars and getting into cars is an ordeal.
Even with all this, we will get through itas we have gotten through storms in the past.
