New Hampshire Ice Storm 8 days later

After 8 cold dark days we finally have our power back.

At 4:50 pm Dec. 19th 2008 exactly 8 days after the power went out we finally have it back.

I have a number of unanswered questions relating to why in the year 2008 it took 8 days and longer as many are still without power, to get it back. Why were the outage reports so wrong? I know the damage was intensive, I saw it first hand myself but still! We can put a man on the moon but take eight days to restore power… something is wrong when people die freezing in their homes.  The New Hampshire motto is Live Free or Die, in this storm people put huge cardboard signs in their yards saying ” Live Freeze and Die” some of those people are still freezing. I’m lucky 8 days later I’m warm in my house.

On Thursday December 11th New Hampshire was hit with an Ice Storm that knocked out the power to over 400,000 homes. Many of those people continued to live in cold homes and managed the best they could without running water. They always thought the power would go back on any minute. It never did. Some bought generators and tried their best to function. Others went to hotels or stayed with friends.

During that time my main vehicle of communication was my cell phone and Twitter.com. Those affected by the storm used the hash-tag #icestorm2008 or #icestorm08 on Twitter to keep track of what was happening around them. Even the power company @PSNH twittered.

Many of us felt isolated from the rest of the world as other people went about daily life, shopping for the holidays, we sat huddled and cold worrying about how to flush the toilet and how to take a shower. The simple things that we all take for granted we suddenly had to worry about. It certainly made you look at life a little differently.

Ice Storm 2008 is one I won’t soon forget! The tree you hear cracking in this video finally split in half… I was safely out of the way.

You can read more about this storm on NH Ice storm and look at a few pictures on  NHViewFinders.com