The Great Ice Storm of '09 Day 4 1/2

The thawing (thankfully) continues for the folks here in Daviess County and Owensboro. Still no power for me, but I have heat for my house with some propane burners. Don't worry, I'm not sleeping there so no carbon monoxide poisoning for me. Propane has been easy enough to procure, just a 30 minute wait today, 20 minutes of that wait was because the truck to refill the tanks at the service station was late. Gasoline has also been fairly easy to get. Most gas stations are up and running. I would say that most transactions are still taking place with cash as all the credit card machines were knocked out due to the phone/communication outages. Restaurants are open and the city is slowly returning to a sense of normalcy, although there is a long way to go. Tomorrow is another warm day so most of the ice should be off the power lines and trees.

As far as the power situation is concerned, blocks of the city are coming back online. . .very slowly. . .but there is visible progress. Most traffic lights are working. I am starting to see more bucket trucks and electrical workers out and about. The county situation looks a little worse off but I have heard that there is power returning to some portions of the county.


Now for the curmudgeon part - where the heck has the state government and FEMA been??? The city and county government agencies, police, firefighters, utilities, etc. . . have been doing a heck of a dragging the city up onto its feet. What I haven't really seen are the national gaurd or and national agencies on the streets doing anything. Sure I've seen a humvee or two puttering around and some vehicles with FEMA markings but I've really not noticed them doing anything, no soldiers in uniforms with chainsaws clearing downed tree-limbs or water being made available for those without it, you know, the kind of things these guys are supposed to be doing during a disaster. Maybe those guys are concentrating on harder hit areas but according to this report, maybe they aren't. Maybe its the nature of Kentuckians to be self reliant and dependent on our own to get through these types of things. Maybe we just aren't yelling loud enough. To the higher powers out there - what part of 500,000 people with no electricity (and portions without water) in the freezing cold doesn't suggest a major response is needed.

Anyways, yes things seem to be getting better, however slowly, necessary supplies are available with a little work finding them. There has no real looting and no real panic. It is still advisable to keep generators under lock and key and vital supplies under a watchful eye. All-in-all we seem to be handling this situation like previous situations; Hurricane Ike, tornadoes, etc. . ., we are all brushing ourselves off, getting back on our feet, and trying to keep in a cheerful mood.