My Kentucky Anniversary
This weekend is the four year anniversary of the Great Lexington Kentucky Ice Storm. I didn't have a camera then, but I found some pictures on the web to post. Ice storms are very odd because they are extremely destructive and extremely beautiful.
I had only moved here two weeks before, and David and I had gone to the grocery store. I remember walking through the parking lot and stopping and looking up at the trees. I remember shouting out to David to stop and look, too, because the trees were so amazing. All of the trees were perfectly outlined in ice. There was a light rain falling that was instantly coating everything in a fine layer of ice. It was like the entire Kroger parking lot was one gigantic ice sculpture. I loved it.
Then, at around 4 o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by what I thought were gunshots. I couldn't figure it out. But the sounds were coming from the back of the house, which I thought a bit odd since behind the house there was nothing but a small forest.
I went and looked out the back window. The sound I had been hearing was all of the trees snapping under the weight of the ice.
Just then the power went off. It came back on for awhile, but then went off again. In the entire city. No power anywhere.
The whole metro area was paralyzed. All of the roads in and out of Lexington were blocked by trees and downed power lines. No air service. No freeways. The National Guard was called in. A bunch of people had their houses burn down. The ice pulled out power cables and set the house on fire. We were lucky. We got our power back three days later. Some of our friends went without power for two weeks.
David and I always joke that we didn't like candles for quite some time after that.
Anyway, here are some pictures that give you an idea of what it was like. In the second picture, the road looks really shiny. That's ice. Like, ice skating rink quality ice.
I had only moved here two weeks before, and David and I had gone to the grocery store. I remember walking through the parking lot and stopping and looking up at the trees. I remember shouting out to David to stop and look, too, because the trees were so amazing. All of the trees were perfectly outlined in ice. There was a light rain falling that was instantly coating everything in a fine layer of ice. It was like the entire Kroger parking lot was one gigantic ice sculpture. I loved it.
Then, at around 4 o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by what I thought were gunshots. I couldn't figure it out. But the sounds were coming from the back of the house, which I thought a bit odd since behind the house there was nothing but a small forest.
I went and looked out the back window. The sound I had been hearing was all of the trees snapping under the weight of the ice.
Just then the power went off. It came back on for awhile, but then went off again. In the entire city. No power anywhere.
The whole metro area was paralyzed. All of the roads in and out of Lexington were blocked by trees and downed power lines. No air service. No freeways. The National Guard was called in. A bunch of people had their houses burn down. The ice pulled out power cables and set the house on fire. We were lucky. We got our power back three days later. Some of our friends went without power for two weeks.
David and I always joke that we didn't like candles for quite some time after that.
Anyway, here are some pictures that give you an idea of what it was like. In the second picture, the road looks really shiny. That's ice. Like, ice skating rink quality ice.
posted by Greg at 11:41 PM
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