Southern Ice Storm Renders Many Powerless

[Shadow]

Southern Ice Storm Renders Many Powerless

AP News

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - More than 700,000 homes and businesses began the day Friday without power after a frigid night allowed ice to build from a deadly storm in the South.

Schools remained closed Friday in Virginia and Maryland, and the ice left commuters with more tough driving conditions south to Georgia. Forecasters warned that dense morning fog could create an extra coat of ice in below-freezing weather.

Throughout the Atlanta area, traffic was backed up for miles because of accidents and ice that prompted the shutdown of ramps and interstates, despite efforts to salt the roads.

Hundreds of accidents were reported Thursday, and utility companies said it would take days to fully restore power. Still in the dark Friday were about 328,000 customers in North Carolina, 358,000 customers in South Carolina, 30,000 in Georgia and 13,000 in Virginia.

[Doc]

shadow said:

Southern Ice Storm Renders Many Powerless

AP News

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - More than 700,000 homes and businesses began the day Friday without power after a frigid night allowed ice to build from a deadly storm in the South.

Schools remained closed Friday in Virginia and Maryland, and the ice left commuters with more tough driving conditions south to Georgia. Forecasters warned that dense morning fog could create an extra coat of ice in below-freezing weather.

Throughout the Atlanta area, traffic was backed up for miles because of accidents and ice that prompted the shutdown of ramps and interstates, despite efforts to salt the roads.

Hundreds of accidents were reported Thursday, and utility companies said it would take days to fully restore power. Still in the dark Friday were about 328,000 customers in North Carolina, 358,000 customers in South Carolina, 30,000 in Georgia and 13,000 in Virginia.

We lost power for about an hour in the middle of the night.
It was cold and icky, but, really, overall around Atlanta it wasn't that bad weather wise. Trust me, I would have whined like a ninny if it had been
really inconvenient.

I suppose I am in a less hard hit region and luckily didn't face the traffic hazards and powerlessness that others did. For this I should be thankful.

True, though, around here, the city owns no special equipment in case of a big snow or ice storm. An inch of snow in this town is a cataclysm.
Atlanta drivers fall apart when there is frozen "anything" on the road.
Slippin', slidin', and spinnin' around. And chains on tires are technically illegal here. (last I knew of)

Anyway, the other night when the power went out, I was in the middle of typing another endless, meandering post (any shock?) and everything jerked suddenly to silent and black.
I sat for an hour in my computer chair unmoving waiting for it to come back on. What, me get up and go to bed at 3AM? Are you crazy? And, without a radio or the fan blowing (white noise), I cant go to sleep (delicate and pampered me) so, I stayed sitting in dark silence with only the glow of sodium lights (the other half of my complex still had power)deciding that that was a better way to spend my time........

After a long hour, (should I tell this?) I prayed about it, and (I didn't mean to be flippant), I said, God, you don't have to answer this kind of a prayer for me, and it is a little juvenile of me not to accept this power outage like an adult and everyone else, but, could you just help the service people to get this job done quickly and just have those lights pop right back soon?

OK, yes you know where I am going with this.

One count, one beat, one heartbeat later, the music and lights burst back on.

And I said. "Wow. OK, well, I won't be a snotwod and deny you the credit for
bringing about such a fast restore for me. So, gosh God, thanks. Thank a lot for the lights and power. Now, I can go back to posting! And, God, sir, you jumped in to help me in a pinch, some it definitely seems like, well, I owe you one."

I paused.

"OK, God, yes, I said I owed you one. I mean, I actually owe you everything, but with respect to your timing on this, well, anyway, thanks, and I owe you one."

Payback had to came the next day, it turned out. Wanna hear about it? Warning-----may contain a religious reference or two, but it ends real nice.

[Shadow]

Payback had to came the next day, it turned out. Wanna hear about it? Warning-----may contain a religious reference or two, but it ends real nice.

If you take the time to type, I'll take the time to read it...

[Doc]

So, tonight I am moved to finish the little story I began just the other day.
Actually almost two weeks ago. My how time flies.

As you recall, God answered my request and "pop" the lights came on at that exact moment. (Allow me this interpretation for now. Another viewpoint I realize, is one of total coincidence.)

Payback was to come the next day. I said, after all, to God, "I owe you one."
I am learning that one should be careful in such statements. It seems that God heard me.

So, the next afternoon at dusk, I was driving to my mother's apartment buildind to see her for a short visit. On the way, I was in dreadful traffic which slowed me down, so, I grabbed my cell phone and decided to call an old friend who lives in Washington.

After a few stumbles on the phone number that I struggled to remember, I finally got through. We spoke, and soon I was entranced in this catch-up call with my friend, with whom I had not spoken in months. We chatted on and on. I reached my mother's building. I parked. I shut off the car. I talked and talked right there in the parking lot, not wanting to break the excellent and much missed rapport with my dear old friend. Well, he's not old. Just middle aged like me.

But my cell phone battery was low and died after a few more minutes.
I decided to run into the building, to my mom's unit, to use her phone to tell my friend what happened. I jumped out of my car and darted for the doors.

I hit the front doors, which are automatic glass doors. Standing there were 9 or 10 folks from a large Presbyterian church that I play at annually at Christmas. They were choir members and musicians I knew there.

As those electric doors parted, and I came through them, those people exuded such a shock and reaction, pointing to me and screaming 'hello'. I thought OMG is my hair sticking straight up?

One of the ladies and grabbed me. She said, "Robert, I was just praying for a piano player to come and help us, and suddenly YOU, at that very moment, popped through the door. Our pianist COULDN'T come, and we are stuck! We are here to sing Christmas carols for the retirees for about 45 minutes. Won't you play for us? We have all the music, it's easy, you can fake it. We need to start right NOW."

What could I say?

I played gladly, and it went smoothly. The people in the building, all retired, enjoyed it and were made glad. It made me glad, happy, jubilant, down-right gleefully blissfully giggly. It made my mother happy. Oddly, she told me early in December she wished that I would bring some people down to the building to sing and that I would play. I told her (and forgot about it immediately) that I would endeavor to make that happen. I even remember praying, "What can I do to make that happen?" Oy. It happened.

Do you realize, (I did) If the traffic had been better; if I had not finally got the phone number right for my old friend, if the cell phone had not died at all those exact moments, if I had elected to go earlier, I would have walked thorugh those glass doors too early, gone straight up to my mom's apartment, and missed it. I would not have known they needed me, and they would not have known that I was there. It would have never happened.

The choir lady had asked for a pianist to just show up right then. And I did.

I had asked for the electricity to come back on. It did. Immediately. Surprise surprise!

I am not recommending that anyone make God a genie and just make requests like this flippantly.

God made exception with me to show me something, plus I think, God knew I was a little unhappy in the silence and the dark at 4AM with no power, and I didn't ask demanding or putting any kind of trip on God. I dont want to "put a trip on God" anymore than I like people putting a trip on me.
It was a sincere, kind of relaxed request, like, I know he could effect time and space and repairmen's schedules etc.....and he didn't have to but I would appreciate it and I never ask for things like that.....BOOM it was on.

I am not taking the moment for granted, and I don't plan to start asking God for daily displays of magic before my eyes. This was not my purpose, nor do I think it was His for allowing it all to come together. He knew I would feel stunned and obligated by the instant response.

But I was even more stunned by the conicidence of the next day. And that my presence answered the choir ladies prayers as instantly as God had
gotten that Power Repairmen to take care of mine. Which means that God was working on the problem before I asked Him.

Which means that He knows stuff in advance.

Now, for the non-religious and atheistics, or agnostics, or even just spiritually conservative about such "humbug", I invite you gladly to view my entire post as merely the ramblings of a silly, blubbering religious fanatic
without enough sense to have enough flashlights around the house to do him good. And a grandious, childlike presumption about God.

Because I know that that also, has a great purpose in the ultimate BIG PICTURE.

It's all good! Well, er, it can all work out good.

[Shadow]

Thank you for posting this, DoctorRobert.

I'm not much of a believer in pure randomness of any
set of events myself... And this is a very interesting
set of "coincidences".