The Blizzard of 05'

[jackmd]

Those with details please describe. Way over here in Rochester, MN we haven't heard a thing. How bad was/is it? I have no idea.

[gojacksgo]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

There are over 45 towns that still do not have electricity from Monday.  Some won't get it until the middle of this month.  

Over 8000 poles went down because of the winds.

Some places, like Kennebec and Gregory got 20" and 16" of snow on Monday.  In some places it is very bad conditions.  In others, it doesn't seem too bad....

Others could probably fill you in better.

[filbert]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

We were stuck in it west of Huron at my sister's place. It was very bad. We started going to Brookings Sunday night for the CSU-Fullerton game and turned back after we got to Huron because of the icy roads. And that's where the story begins.

It's a long story that I don't have time to relate fully, but it involves several minor house fires, arcing telephone lines somehow causing propane to seep into the house from outside, problems with portable electric generators, difficulties in making coffee, and other travails.

Everybody's fine so far, and a new propane line is being run to replace the one that the phone line holed.

We left there to come back to KC Tuesday morning.

So yeah, it was bad.

[90Jackrabbit]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

Down here in northern Bon Homme County the biggest problem is the ice. It started raining 10 am Sunday and changed over to freezing rain Sunday evening. My electricity went out about 1 am monday and we're not on yet. Ice on the power lines is slightly smaller than the diameter of a coke can, lines are down all over and about 6 poles are down in the 1 mile of power lines leading to our farm. Monday into Tuesday snow wasn't a big problem maybe 8-10 inches and all of it blew into the ditches, but since then we had about 8 more inches of powder and the roads are drifting shut. North of me the ice gets worse, and I heard reports that many of the utility poles are down, one person told me in a 20 mile stretch maybe 20 poles are left standing. The good news is I have a tactor powered generator, the bad news it takes about $60 of fuel to run it for a full day.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

This ice storm stretched across SD into the south east corner of North Dakota. The area west of Fargo got some ice, but not near any of the snow that SD got. The counties in ND that broader SD especially Marshall and Roberts counties lost a lot of poles and severe outages but apparently it does not compare to Beadle and Hanson and Bon Homme counties. Most of the power was restored by Thursday in ND.

I feel fortunate to not have to be in the SD areas mentioned above. When I drove to Arlington on Thursday, I was surprised to see all the snow piled up in Watertown and hoped to find my drive way clear and drivable as usual but what I found was huge snow banks and more snow on Friday and Saturday. So yes its been bad but a snow removal bill of 45 bucks is pretty small compared to what others have experienced. I have heard reports that those affected in the worst areas seem to have problems with the small generators and trying to warm one room in a house. The problem seems to be danger for carbon monoxide forming in that one room. Its been a real catch22 situation for some folks in just trying to survive without power and telephone.

So my heart goes out to Filbert and 90rabbit. Hopefully things will improve soon.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

All's clear out here in Sturgis.  The wind blew like hell Sunday night and into monday morning, but not too much snow.  Tuesday brought 3-4 inches of light fluffy powder but no wind.  We've actually had pretty decent weather the past week, just a tad cold.  Makes me feel like I'm back in Brookings.  It was a beautiful morning bombing runs at Terry Peak ;D

[JBNJBQ]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

This text is from county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the storm.

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

George Bush did not come....
FEMA staged nothing....
No one howled for the government...
No one even uttered an expletive on TV...
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....
No news anchors moved in.

We just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps and put on an extra layer of clothes.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

Everybody is fine.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

This text is from county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the storm.

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

George Bush did not come....
FEMA staged nothing....
No one howled for the government...
No one even uttered an expletive on TV...
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....
No news anchors moved in.

We just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps and put on an extra layer of clothes.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

Everybody is fine.

I think that county manager needs a dose of context. He's suggesting that those people in New Orleans should have just dealt with the situation themselves, like blizzard victims here did. Well, in New Orleans alone, 1,076 people died, many from cholera. In New Orleans, 200,000 homes were destroyed. For context: there are about 290,000 homes in South Dakota and 257,000 in North Dakota. I'm not sure what point the county manager was trying to make, but these two events, both tragic and awful in their own way, really don't compare as events involving human suffering.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

Ok_Jackrabbit you may have a point. But the emergency manager from ND. has a better one!!! S&N Dakotans have been taking care of themselves for 150 years. A trait that many other regions dont share. Thats part of the reason that I will always call SD home!!

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

Ok_Jackrabbit you may have a point. But the emergency manager from ND. has a better one!!! S&N Dakotans have been taking care of themselves for 150 years. A trait that many other regions dont share. Thats part of the reason that I will always call SD home!!

Two points:

1. We'd have a hard time taking care of ourselves if 200,000 homes in South Dakota were destroyed (2/3 of all the homes here) and 1,076 people were killed by the blizzard.

2. We don't really take care of ourselves. Few states get higher return on their federal tax dollars than South Dakota. For every dollar we pay in federal taxes, $1.49 in federal money is spent here. That's a fact from the non-partisan Tax Foundation.

I'm not trying to start a political discussion, but the idea that the victims of Katrina are less virtuous than upper midwest blizzard victims or any other victims of natural disasters really doesn't stand up under scrutiny. Hurricane victims and blizzard victims are victims. They didn't bring this on themselves and they deserve our help whether they ask for it or not. There but for the grace of God go I.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

I dont disagree that "help" was/is in order. But the sense of entitlement that is emerging in Houston/Dallas/ Austin is appalling. Take a trip south and take a look at whats going on around here.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

I think that county manager needs a dose of context. He's suggesting that those people in New Orleans should have just dealt with the situation themselves, like blizzard victims here did. Well, in New Orleans alone, 1,076 people died, many from cholera. In New Orleans, 200,000 homes were destroyed. For context: there are about 290,000 homes in South Dakota and 257,000 in North Dakota. I'm not sure what point the county manager was trying to make,  but these two events, both tragic and awful in their own way, really don't compare as events involving human suffering.

You are putting a lot of words in that poor guys mouth....

The way I read it he is saying "way to go N/S Dakota!
Way to take care of each other! Lighten up! There are good people everywhere! Even Nebraska;D ;D ;D ;D ;D


JBNJBQ

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

You are putting a lot of words in that poor guys mouth....

The way I read it he is saying "way to go N/S Dakota!
Way to take care of each other! Lighten up! There are good people everywhere! Even Nebraska;D ;D ;D ;D ;D


JBNJBQ

Even Nebraska? Are you sure about that?

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

I think he's saying what everyone who comes from the midwest already knows. We have an inherent fortitude unmatched amongst the rest of the country. What we lack in skyscrapers we more than make up for in personal grit. We work hard, find/earn our own way and generally keep the bitching down to a minimum. That trait is not always shared by our great nation's southern residents.

[SD-STATE]

Re: The Blizzard of 05'

I had a teacher in high school who had spent a large majority of his life teaching both on the west and east coasts and had just come to our small town in Minnesota from a high school in Georgia. He said he could easily tell the differences in attitude between students in the midwest compared to other parts of the country. He said us midwest kids had better work ethic and natrually had a greater respect for other people.

Anyways, I think the big difference between the midwest and south is that there is more of an extreme of poverty in the south than midwest. Also in the New Orleans case I think there was bad city planning and leadership. Who puts a large metropolitan area 15 feet below sea-level? Of course they will rebuild and i'm sure another disasterous hurricane will hit the city again in my lifetime. What's wrong with some of your guy's generation... ;D Some people's parents :
;D ;D ;D