Ice Storm in Arkansas

Amazingly the only problem we faced was our tree collapsing under the weight of the cold ice on January the 31. However there was so much damage from the ice that several businesses, schools and homes were without power. Nothing was open and the ice caused so much havoc that people in Arkansas were terrified.

We in Arkansas are prepared for a lot of things as far as the weather, but the state is not equipped to handle something like ice. We have no salt trucks and nothing such as this, therefore the roads were very dangerous. Within only a few hours there were so many accidents that many main roads were shut down and others were having the traffic rerouted into different areas. The side roads were simply a mess and driving on them was a bigger hazard. This is due to the fact that county and city officials were diligently working on the main areas and roads.

Trees were down in the roads, power lines hung so that the weight of the ice just busted the lines in two. You could literally see some of the wires arching because the power was going through them and yet they were down. It was such a dramatic experience in all my years of living here I have never seen anything like this.

People were urged to stay home if possible, and to stay warm however they could. Officials worked non stop to restore power to homes and hospitals. Schools were closed for days, and the overall cleaning up of this mess was tremendous.

Although some people admired the sun and were glad to see it, this only made things worse as things started to thaw a bit. Roads that were clear were thawing some and then with the going down of the sun only had the opportunity to freeeze once again and make them treacherous.

Security companies worked overtime restoring batteries that had been used because the power was not available and this also brought unwanted fear to financial institutions such as banks and lending companies. Stores were closed and many different restaurants were as well.

A shelter was formed in many of the affected counties due to the fact that the power companies could simply not keep up with the ice. Trees were being brought down literally by the weight of the frozen ice hanging on them, and in some areas they were even being uprooted.

I hope to never have to face an ordeal such as this again. I have power once more and although there are ice and snow in several different areas where I live, we still are climbing out from under the ice. Dealing with the cold and snow is one thing, but when you have nothing but one large sheet of ice as well as black ice I have now found out completely, I am afraid. However, I do have the opinion now because of this ice storm that Arkansas needs to invest in salt trucks.