Winter Storm Nemo - February 8, 2013
The blizzard, dubbed
Winter Storm Nemo or
The Blizzard of 2013, was due to start late Friday afternoon. The state issued a Blizzard Warning on Thursday and as a precaution, the school Superintendant had canceled school for Friday. There was an undeniable buzz in the air. Grocery stores were busy as everyone made a mad dash to stock up on non-perishable food. Gas stations had long lines, as people fueled their vehicles and gas cans, making sure they had enough to run their generators. It reminded me of the day before Christmas, hurried people filled with anticipation and nervous energy, scuttling around to finish the last of their holiday preparations.
The snow began right around 9 am, as predicted, while I was at my weekly Zumba class. After class, I dashed out, eager to get home before the roads got too bad. Throughout the day, we listened to storm updates and heard that MBTA (public transportation) in Boston would be shutting down by mid-afternoon, along with Logan International Airport. By late afternoon, the governor issued a ban on driving until further
notice, so the only vehicles allowed on the roads were essential personnel. Anyone without valid ID could be punished with a $500 fine or a year of jail
time. I had never heard of a driving ban until this storm, but in the
end, it more than likely ended up saving several lives. (I later learned that the last time a driving ban had been in effect was during the Blizzard of '78, exactly 35 years and 1 day earlier.)
By evening, the wind and snow really began to pick up. We all huddled around the TV to watch the news coverage. Reporters were calling this "The Storm of the Century", with snow predictions around 30" and hurricane-force gusts of up to 80 mph. It was impossible to escape all of the storm coverage when flipping through channels. We wondered if they were being overly dramatic. In the end, this was one storm that lived up to all the hype.
Dave and I tucked the kids in that night, relieved that we had made it through the evening without losing power. Because they had predicted the worst of the storm to happen
between 11pm and 6 am, it seemed inevitable that we would lose it at some point during the night. Since that would leave us without heat, I had
the girls sleep together
in Amanda's room. In hindsight, I would have had all three of the kids sleep
together
in our room... or better, yet downstairs. I heard of many families
doing just that.
While my family slept, I stayed up to watch TV in our bedroom,
flipping back and forth between storm coverage, which was constant at
this point, and mindless TV programming. By 9:00 pm, the wind was howling so loudly that it sounded like a freight train going right past the windows. That seems like such a cliche, but I can't describe it any other way. The inside doors and windows shook and rattled fiercely, as if an intruder was trying to break into the house. I could hear objects pelting the side of the house and the windows from time to time. There was such an ominous feeling in the air; my body felt as if it was on full alert. Being the light sleeper than I am, I knew I would never sleep through this and started dreading how the night would go.
Despite the predictions of 2-3 feet of snow (with 2-3 inches per hour), my biggest concern was the wind. I worried about the enormous trees on either side of the house falling and crashing through the roof. What if they fell on the kids' bedrooms? Not long after I posted these concerns to my Facebook Wall, one of Dave's friends responded with," Somehow that didn't make me feel any better.
Around 9:30 pm, the power flickered four or five times and then went off briefly. I thought I heard two loud crashes but it was hard to know for sure because the wind was so loud. Was it jut debris hitting the house, or had something actually fallen? The electricity came back on about a minute later, so I quickly went downstairs to unplug the electronic devices, namely my digital piano and the TV, in the event of a power surge.
While I was downstairs, the power went out again...and this time, it stayed out. I opened the side door to look for anything unusual outside, but it was a complete white-out, nothing but blowing snow. I fumbled around in the dark, trying to feel my way back upstairs to the bedroom.
By now, my adrenalin was flowing and I knew any attempts at sleep would be futile. While my family slept, blissfully oblivious to the chaos outside, I crawled back under the warm blankets, picked up my fully charged iPhone and began checking Facebook. Other reports of power outages around town started trickling in. I had a suspicion we could be in for a long day or two before we dug out from this blizzard. What I didn't know then was that our power would be out for 5 1/2 days.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, still without power, we couldn't even see out of the
windows. The snow and ice were caked on and frozen to the glass. It made me feel trapped. Because of all the blowing, it was hard to tell just how much snow we had gotten, and it was still coming down. When we opened the front door to survey the damage, we were shocked to find several of our trees down in the front yard near the road.
(Click on a photo to make it bigger and scroll through them easier.)
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| We lost a big tree in the front yard, which was completely uprooted. It had fallen onto the other trees next to it, creating a domino effect and taking them with it. Luckily it missed most of the fence.. and the house! |
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| A giant root ball, along with our snapped cable line. |
Here is another view from the front porch, looking south toward the driveway and road. Our driveway is completely blocked by fallen trees.
Several times that morning, plow trucks tried to get through but failed because of the downed power line in the road. The only vehicles allowed on the roads were plows and service vehicles, because the driving ban was still in effect.
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| Here you can see the headlights of a plow truck that tried unsuccessfully to get past our house, and had to go back the way he came. |
Once we ventured outside to further inspect the damage, this is what we saw.
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| Downed power lines on our street. Our house is just to the right. |
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| Another view looking toward our house from across the street. |
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| Not being able to see out of the windows was a very claustrophobic feeling for me. |
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| The sunroom, caked with ice |
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Standing by the house, looking toward the street: the driveway is completely blocked.
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| The root ball on the tree makes Dave look small! |
The family room became our "home base", since the rest of the house had no heat. Our family room has a propane stove, and can be closed off from the rest of the house, so we were comfortable.
We got cozy and settled in with a stack of puzzles, games, Legos and our hand-crank radio. At this point, it was still new and fun for us... and the kids were thrilled to be playing Lego's with Daddy. I had thoughts of Anne Frank, and marveled at how her family was able to stay holed up for so long in a much smaller space than we had.
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| Legomania! |
I spent a lot of the morning monitoring the situation through WATD, our local radio station, and Facebook via my iPhone, our only connections with the outside world. Reports were mostly vague, but we learned that Marshfield was among the hardest hit in the state and that we could be without power for several days. I knew that I needed to limit my usage and conserve my phone's battery, and tried to keep myself busy.
Foodwise, I thought we'd be okay for a while. I had prepared some food ahead of time, so we had sandwiches, tuna macaroni salad, fruit, cookies and muffins on hand. I also had two large pots of water I kept on the propane stove, so
at least we had access to lukewarm water for coffee. Dave placed a few containers of frozen homemade soup to thaw on the brick hearth above the propane stove, so we'd have some warm meals. But I started to worry about the food in our two refrigerators and freezers. Last year when we lost power for several days after a Nor'easter, we lost a lot of food. I didn't want a repeat of that. I put a bowl of snow in each of the freezers, in hopes of slowing down the thawing process.
At one point in the morning, we heard a chainsaw and found that our neighbor was attempting to free us from the tree blockade across our driveway. Between the trees and the amount of snow, it became evident that we wouldn't be leaving our house anytime soon. As it turns out, three of our neighbors have generators so we knew we had options if the house became too cold.
Another neighbor came by to check on us that morning. She reminded us to let the water drip so the pipes wouldn't freeze, and invited us over to charge our phones and warm up in their home at any time. Because they have a generator that is hard-wired, they had heat, along with one working outlet in each of their rooms.
At the Lindsay headquarters, the novelty of board games and puzzles was beginning to wear off. I was reluctant to send the kids out into the snow to play, since we had no way to dry the wet snow clothes or warm up our bodies. I was already feeling chilled and couldn't seem to get warm.
After lunch, we trudged through the snow to the Alexanderson's house (just 2 doors down), happy for a change of scenery and some social time. In between playing out in the snow with the neighbor girl, the kids warmed up inside with pretzels and hot chocolate topped with marshmallow fluff. After letting their wet clothes dry briefly by the wood fire, they headed back out for more fun. No one had any complaints at this point, and the blizzard once again became fun for them.
While the kids were out playing, I got acquainted with an elderly but spunky neighbor named Regis, who lives just three doors down from us. I had heard about her before and knew that her husband had recently passed away, but this was the first time I had met her. She reminded me so much of my grandma and we hit it off instantly. The more we talked, I realized how many odd coincidences there were, including having the same last name as my grandma. The two neighbor women and I, covered by afghans on our laps, engaged in friendly conversation, while Dave and two of the neighborhood men worked on our fallen trees. I was perfectly warm and content and made a mental note to research generators once things got back to normal.
During the cozy chat, our host, who works for an insurance company, informed us that the
recent trend of naming storms has to do with insurance coverage.
Evidently if you suffer damage as the result of a named storm, insurance won't cover it. She said something about having to have a
separate rider for storms or something to that effect. I had never
heard that before, but it satisfied my curiosity nonetheless. It didn't matter to us. We knew
that we couldn't make an insurance claim for our damage because the trees missed our house, and
only took out a tiny section of the fence.
Walking home with the family that evening in the dark was depressing. It was cold and dark by the time we got home and everyone was testy about having to get ready for bed by flashlights and lanterns. Because we had no hot water, even the simplest task of washing your hands was enough to make one's mood sour.
We settled in for the night, with our mattresses all pushed together, and crawled in between the layers of down comforters and featherbeds. Before we fell asleep, we received an uplifting phone call from the neighbor across
the street. He informed us that a crew of neighbors would be by
the next morning with chainsaws and snow blowers.
After a day without power, I was becoming irritable and frustrated with all the
inconveniences that arose from the storm, but knowing that we had such
helpful neighbors helped eased some of that stress. Still, I longed for a
hot shower and the ability to wash our accumulating pile of dirty
dishes. I was eager to get back to our normal routine, even the tedious
chores like laundry and cooking.
By the ambient glow of tea light candles and a lantern, Dave read a few chapters of
Stuart Little to the kids until they drifted off, while I again scrolled through Facebook status updates, searching for current information or at least a glimmer of good news.
The outlook was dismal. The outage reports from NStar and National Grid showed that 92% of our town was without power. The number of fallen trees made many roads inaccessible for the utility trucks, so progress was slow. The emergency shelter had been relocated from the Council on Aging building to the Middle School, due to the number of people who needed to evacuate their homes. Estimates for power restoration were set for five days at best. Five days felt like an eternity to me, and I had a fitful night of tossing and turning as I mentally prepared for the days ahead.
On the positive side, we didn't need to worry about coastal flooding, like the residents along the ocean in Brant Rock or in the town of Scituate had to deal with. On the flip side, most of those people had power because they didn't have large trees on their power lines.
Meanwhile, the temperature in the house continued to drop, hovering around 40*. We knew that we only had about 17% left in our propane tank, so we were forced to keep the family room thermostat at a conservative 58*. Dave was concerned about the fish in our aquarium, since we couldn't regulate the water temperature without electricity, so he relocated them to a smaller tank in the family room.
Confirmed snow totals were starting to roll in around New England, with Boston at 24", and as
much as 38" in Connecticut. Marshfield was slightly less, with just 21"
of heavy snow. The snow wasn't as much of an issue as the high winds and flooding were for our town. Our tiny Marshfield airport reported gusts of 83 mph.
By Sunday morning, the storm had moved out and we were treated to a
gorgeous day. The untouched white blanket of snow and the striking blue
sky was an odd contrast to our war zone of a yard.
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| On Sunday morning, we awoke to a beautiful, calm, sunny day. |
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| Time to tackle the clearing the driveway, still blocked with snow and fallen trees. |
Just as promised, a neighbor knocked on our door with a Thermos of hot coffee. Later her daughter arrived to play and go sledding with the kids for a few hours while Dave and I worked outside, shoveling the cars out and working on the fallen trees. The fresh air and physical exercise did a world of good for my mental state.
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| Dave, holding his chainsaw above his head in victory. One step closer to getting out of our driveway... |
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| The cross section of one of the smaller trees that fell. |
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| Cutting up the log into smaller chunks to be hauled away. |
The snow was heavy and hard to shovel, so I took periodic breaks to knock the excess snow/ice from the drooping tree branches. Soon, our neighbor Jon arrived to see if we needed help. He and I began hauling branches away while Dave resumed with his chainsaw. Before long, three other neighbors (John, Roger and Don) arrived with snow blowers and an additional chainsaw.
While everyone was hard at work, we witnessed an increase in the amount of traffic going past our house. Many people slowed down to take pictures of our yard. It felt like we were a tourist attraction. (This continued for the next two weeks!) Since we hadn't gotten out in several days, we had no way of knowing how our damage compared with the rest of the town. As we returned to civilization over the next few days, we realized that our damage was among the worst.
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| While Dave, Don and Jon worked on the trees, Roger and John snowblowed the driveway. |
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| Here's a view of the large tree that we were most worried about during the storm. We are fortunate that it didn't fall on the house. |
With six people working, progress was quick and our driveway was shoveled and clear by late Sunday afternoon. Once that was done, it felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. None of our crew of helpers would accept payment, so I brought out a bowl of still cold Bud Lites as my meager offer of thanks. I added another task to my mental To Do List: bake goodies for everyone in the neighborhood once we had electricity.
Around noon, we received the automated call from the Superintendant announcing that school was canceled for Monday, as expected, so I began preparing for another day with the kids. Two days off from school, with two weekend days sandwiched in between, and no end in sight...
As we were leaving for a repeat visit at the Alexandersons' house that night, our neighbor Roger pulled into the driveway. He handed over a grocery bag of staples - bread and milk, and for the kids, chocolate milk and Oreos. This was a real treat for the kids and they grinned from ear to ear. Again I offered him money, but he replied,"I like white cupcakes with chocolate frosting," and then he was off again.
At the neighbor's home that night, we met a few other families from our street and general vicinity. We visited over pizzas, pie, and wine. It was interesting to hear the stories from around town, since people were slowly venturing out now that the driving ban had been lifted. I was shocked to hear that some of Marshfield Hills, only about a mile from us, never even lost power. It was life as normal for them.
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| Eva and Kate, the neighbor girl, with Liam all dressed up in a hockey uniform. Kate was a lifesaver as far as helping to entertain the kids. |
Monday, February 11th marked Day 3 without power. Now that we were able to get out of our driveway, we packed up our clothes and food, and headed to the Kimball's house early that morning. Our good friends were away on vacation, and had offered their home to us if needed. We graciously accepted their offer, and on the way, picked up Mr. Kimball's sister, who was also without power and doesn't drive. Their house had electricity, heat, and the coveted hot water. It was everything we needed and more.
The drive from our house to theirs was a real eye opener. It was the first time we had seen the damage around town. I couldn't believe the number of trees, power lines, and cables that were still down. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Another eerie sight was seeing all of the camouflaged National Guard HUMVEE's driving around. (Over 800 soldiers and airmen were dispatched throughout New England.) Utility trucks were everywhere, many from out of state, and outnumbered civilian vehicles.
On Day 3, our Marshfield radio station reported that 89% of our town was still in the dark, so to speak. By noon on Monday, school had been cancelled for Tuesday. Dave and I felt confident that the schools would be closed for the remainder of the week.
Throughout the day on Monday and Tuesday, we drove back to our house to pick up more food and supplies, feed the fish, and check on things. We learned that our neighbors had their electricity restored sometime on Tuesday. However, since our trees took out the feed from our house to the road, we were a lesser priority.
School was canceled again on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.... a total of 5 days in all. School resumed on Friday, but then the kids had the next week off due to February vacation. I found myself checking the outage reports periodically throughout the day. By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, only 5% of the town was without power. Unfortunately we were among the 5%.
On Wednesday night, I finally received a call from an excited neighbor saying that NStar was in our driveway. It felt like the best news in the world, like angels singing from above. Dave stopped by the house on his way home from work and confirmed that we indeed had power. He spent the night at the house, making sure that everything was okay.
On Thursday morning, which happened to be Valentine's Day, the kids and I packed everything up at the Kimball's house and headed home. It was the best feeling in the world! The first thing I did was clean out the refrigerators and freezers. It killed me to throw out the spoiled food, but I just kept reminding myself that things could have been much worse. After the house was in order, I began preparing food for the neighbors. That evening, the kids learned a valuable lesson in gratitude as we delivered pies, salsa, pickles, jam and wine to all of the neighbors. It was a good lesson in gratitude.
We were told that we wouldn't have TV or internet access for two more weeks, but in the grand scheme of things, it seemed like a minor inconvenience. We were surprised when the FIOS truck arrived just two days later, and restored full cable and internet to our house.
They say that Winter Storm Nemo rivaled the Blizzard of '78. I cannot compare the two, since I didn't live here then, but I can say without a doubt, this was the worst storm I have ever witnessed. There were some scary and tense moments, but when the next storm occurs, I can say with confidence that there's no other neighborhood I'd rather live in.
We are very fortunate to have found the perfect place for our family.
More storm photos from around town:
http://nenewsimages.smugmug.com/Journalism/Blizzard-Twenty13/27938447_LBrFtf#!i=2358036644&k=R2Mm6rz
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