Get ready Georgia! My husband just got off the phone with the engineer

[hedgehog]

at the plant down there. The power company told them to be prepared to lose power with the storm that's coming. The power company told its linesmen to come to work with a suitcase Monday and be prepared to spend all of next week restoring the grid.

[seabeyond]

wow. we had an icestorm take out city power. two days for us. i called a pal

in electric to come take care of us, so wasnt as long. but brrrrrr.

best to you all. hunker down

[sgsmith]

1. Well, if there's an ice storm

Of course the electricity is going to be out. And of course Georgia Power is telling their crews to be prepared for a long stint of repairs.

Doesn't mean that the power is going to be off.

[Phentex]

2. We lose power when it rains...

not every time but plenty of times...we're used to this.




:o

[Sonoman]

3. Where in GA?

I am leaving for Atlanta on Monday for a week.

Crap...

Sonoman

[DemoTex]

7. Don't count on getting anywhere close to ATL on Monday or Tuesday.

If you are coming from the west coast, the 3-hour difference will give you a time advantage to make a decision Monday morning. My guess is flights to and from ATL will have long canceled by your departure time Monday. The airlines will probably make the decision for you.

[Sonoman]

11. Damn...

Aren't you somewhere on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard?

I really enjoyed those posts of yours from the fire zone.

Sonoman

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Here:

Forecast for Atlanta, don't know how much of Ga it covers, but I am in Ala. so need to check our forecast.

LOW PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN GULF OF
MEXICO SUNDAY MORNING AND SHIFT EAST THROUGH LATE SUNDAY. AHEAD OF
THIS SYSTEM...A COLD AND DRY AIRMASS WILL BE IN PLACE...SETTING
THE STAGE FOR A WINTER STORM LOCALLY SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY.
AT THIS TIME...PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS ALL SNOW SUNDAY EVENING
AND REMAIN PREDOMINANTLY SNOW THROUGH EARLY MONDAY MORNING.
INITIALLY...AREAS FORM CARROLLTON TO METRO ATLANTA AND WASHINGTON
WILL MIX WITH OR CHANGE OVER TO SLEET...LIMITING ACCUMULATIONS TO 3
TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW AND SLEET. NORTH OF THIS AREA...ACCUMULATIONS
WILL BE HIGHER WITH 5 TO 7 INCHES EXPECTED WITH THE HIGHER
ELEVATIONS REMAINING ALL SNOW...RESULTING IN LOCALLY HIGHER
ACCUMULATION AMOUNTS.

FROM MIDDAY MONDAY THROUGH LATE MONDAY NIGHT...THE SLEET AND SNOW
WILL TRANSITION TO FREEZING RAIN AND DRIZZLE...CREATING A
DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR AREA ROADWAYS. THE SYSTEM SHOULD PULL OUT
MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY...BUT ACCUMULATING SNOW IS LIKELY TO
CONTINUE FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF NORTH GEORGIA.

[SheilaT]

5. You make it sound like there is only

one power plant for the entire state. And that the entire state will be without power.

[hedgehog]

6. My reading at this point is that some large area in Georgia is going

to be hit with a major ice storm. I've been through that as have my parents. Until you see every single power line, every single power line, brought down by falling trees or simply the weight of the ice, you can't believe the devastation. It can take a week or even a month before everyone has power back. So, no power plant in Georgia is going down, but if the wires are down, the power ain't going out! Say the area we're talking about is only 10 miles by 10 miles; depending on the area, that could be a hell of a lot of people!

I don't want to be needlessly alarmist, but the fellow my husband was talking with is very experienced. Neither he nor the power company officials have needed to take these steps ahead of other storms. That tells me this will be a major storm. It's worthwhile knowing that you may be stuck without power for a couple days next week, or that the roads may be closed. If you need to get some prescriptions filled, or get some bottled water or food you can cook outside on the grill, now's the time to do it. It's pretty much the same as getting ready for a hurricane, only it's going to be cold after the storm.

One last word of advice: if you look at your power line, you will see a cable that runs down the side of your house to the breaker box. Between that cable and the power line is a coupling. Up here in New York, the power company will only fix the lines up to that coupling. After a storm, if the cable on your side of the coupling is damaged, the power company will not reconnect you until a licensed electrician fixes the cable. So if you see damage, call an electrician ASAP to ensure that when the power company gets to your block, you'll be re-connected. Otherwise you may end up at the bottom of the list.

[SheilaT]

9. I was in the Kansas City area

for a 10 inch snow fall in October, 1996 when all the trees were fully leafed out. Some parts of the metro area were without power for more than a week.

Then there was the ice storm on January 29, 2002. Some people were without power for ten days.

I had the remarkable good fortune to live in an area where, because of the power lines being underground and apparently being quite close to the origin of the power, we never lost power in any of the storms there. And those two were by no means the only ones, just the two worst. Some side streets were impassible for several days until local citizens with power saws could cut up and move the downed tree limbs and entire trees.

Yep, ice storms are the very worst. Hunker down if at all possible.

[Shagbark Hickory]

8. Don't believe the hype. We all know it's just going to be some sleet just like always.

[CatWoman]

10. on New Year's Day my power went out

and stayed out for about 3 hours.

IT WAS COLD!!