Lesson learned, folks dig in against storm

Forecaster: Big trouble possible tonight

By Tracie Dungan

Posted: January 28, 2010 at 3:59 a.m.

Jason Ivester
Credit: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Employee David Hill (left) helps Darin Hahn of Fayetteville lift a generator into a vehicle Wednesday outside The Home Depot in Fayetteville as Darin’s mother, Donna, watches. Darin Hahn plans to use the generator at his home in case he loses power during the expected winter storm.

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FAYETTEVILLE — As time dwindled to prepare for an expected winter storm Wednesday morning, Darin Hahn was determined not to repeat his family’s rough experience of 2009.

On the first anniversary of last year’s wintry devastation, Hahn was at the “will call” entrance at The Home Depot in Fayetteville, where customers who’d phoned in their orders for generators to be shipped overnight could pick them up.

He was among manyNorthwest Arkansas residents whose casual attitude regarding storm preparation last year gave way to a proactive game plan this week.

“My main concern is last year - we lost power for 12 days,” said Hahn, who lives near Elkins in Washington County.

Though he and his family stayed with his in-laws in Bentonville last year, his wife, Jennifer, is recovering from surgery and won’t be able to travel back and forth this time.

“Last year, I didn’t think it would last as long as it did,” Hahn said as The Home Depot workers scurried by, barking orders using two-way radios.

Pete Snyder, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, said forecasters are still using models, trying to determine when thestorm will hit, where it will track and how much sleet, freezing rain and snow particular areas will get.

Snyder said he expects Northwest Arkansas to get some form of precipitation, starting about 6 a.m. today and lasting until noon Friday.

Usually, temperatures need to reach 27 degrees or lower for an ice storm to cause havoc, he said, and daytime temperatures today, are expected to be above that.

But tonight’s forecasted low around 25 could begin to cause big problems, he said.

“You’re looking at 1 to 2 inches of precipitation,” Snyder said. “If that’s in the form of freezing rain, you have a major ice storm on your hands.”

Northwest Arkansas residents anticipating that possibility fanned out to stores Wednesday to gather supplies and equipment.

Elizabeth Rutledge, manager of The Home Depot, said her store had a run on generators and kerosene heaters.

“We even sold our display [items],” she said. At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, a special shipment of 92 more generators arrived. By opening of business at 7 a.m. Wednesday, 10 customers were lined up outside the doors waiting to get them.

“We sold 25 generators in less than 30 minutes this morning,” Rutledge said. A little after 9:30 a.m., the number had climbed to 50.

Outside the store, Gary Sosebee of Strickler loaded his generator onto his pickup truck with the help of two store employees.

“Oh, I’m not going 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 or 10 days without lights and power,” he said.

During 2009’s storm, he and wife Teresa learned a hard lesson.

“We were off five days -we were the lucky ones,” he said, adding they had a small fireplace that helped only if you stayed near it.

“We about froze our behinds off,” Sosebee quipped.

Adam Dorey, manager of the Lowe’s store in Springdale, said he saw a difference in customer attitudes from last year. “They were more reactive last year - they’re more proactive this year,” he said.

By about 2 p.m., the store had sold out of generators, and sales for kerosene, wood products, ice melt, batteries and flashlights were brisk.

Dede Peters of Fayetteville, owner of ddp gallery, likened fellow Northwest Arkansans’ fear of the predicted storm to post-traumatic stress disorder.

On her online Facebook page Tuesday, she wrote, “Ice Storm PTSD.”

Wednesday, she posted a list of three personal mustdos: Grind coffee while electricity still flows, buy a car charger for the cell phone and fill up the gas tank.

Since then, friends have listed more suggestions on her page, facebook.com/ ddpgallery.

“Wine. Cash. People have talked about a certain kind of charger for your car battery,” Peters said. “Jack Daniels.”

Peters used Facebook during the 2009 ice storm to communicate road conditions, which parts of town had power, and which coffee shops were open or had Internet access. Peters powered this effort using her iPhone and a car charger during the first three days of her seven days without power.

“I just think last year we got caught unawares,” said Peters, whose hilltop home offered a vista of “the green flashes of transformers breaking, and seeing certain parts of town losing power.”

“And the sound of the trees,” she continued. “It was the sound of destruction.”

Preparations also were taking place on a bigger scale, among public agencies. Flatbed trucks hauling 50 dieselfueled power generators were expected to be staged by late Wednesday at a south Fayetteville location, said Dave Maxwell, director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

If electricity fails, those generators provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be used to power critical infrastructure such as water and sewer systems.

Maxwell talked with county judges and county emergency management officials during a Wednesday morning conference call.

They were not so riddled with post-traumatic stress.

They asked few questions and expressed confidence they are prepared for the anticipated bad weather, Maxwell said.

“They had a pretty good learning experience last year at this time,” Maxwell said.

The Hahns felt lucky to have landed the 8,000-watt Ridgid generator that Jennifer Hahn’s grandmother, Norma Lewis of Oilton, Okla., planned to buy them as a gift.

“A lot of places don’t have any generators,” said Cindy Dailey, Jennifer Hahn’s mother, as she sat waiting on a tall pallet of bagged ice melt. Other stores didn’t allow customers to put one on hold - “even with a credit card,” she said.

Dailey had telephoned stores in the area to find out who had generators and how they could be reserved and delivered.

The Hahns’ mission to buy the generator became a family affair as Darin Hahn’s mother, Donna Hahn, and sister Pam Bump arrived with a truck big enough to ferry the large, heavy box home.

“I got my generator last year,” Donna Hahn said, and that was during the middle of a power loss that lasted about a week at her house near Elkins. “Now I’m helping my kids get ready.” Information for this article was contributed by Robert J. Smith of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

UTILITY CONTACTS AND ROAD CONDITIONS

Carroll Electric Cooperative

(800) 432-9720

carrollecc.com Ozarks Electric Cooperative

(800) 521-6322

ozarkselectric.com Southwestern Electric Power Co.

(888) 218-3919

swepco.com Bentonville Electric Depart

ment

(479) 271-5959

Siloam Springs Electric Department

(479) 524-4118

Arkansas Western Gas Co.

(800) 252-9090

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department

(800) 245-1672

arkansashighways.com

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/28/2010

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