Heck of a storm

[tomme boy]

We just had a heck of a storm go through. 100mph winds. The whole town is out of power. Uscellular is the main cell here and they are down in the east part of the state.

Really bites. We have been stock piling meat and it is all in the deep freeze but they are saying up to 2 weeks for the power to get back on

[BigAlofPa.]

Wow maybe you can get a generator from someone?

[tomme boy]

Tried. All the stores are out too.

[MUSTANG]

Dry Ice available in the area that you could put in the Freezers? It last quite a while.

[pmer]

I was driving south on 35 W and it was closed at 20 and had to go west to Webster and take 17 south. By ther time I got to Ames 17 south was closed and had to go west then south on dirt roads trying to get back to 17 and go south again. The news said they had up to 100 MPH winds for about 30 minutes!
I saw trucks tipped over, commercial grain bins crushed and corn laying flat. Once I got to Madrid on township roads my jaw dropped looking at the damage there.

I hope it doesn't take the whole 2 weeks and wish the best of luck.

[country gent]

Its a lot messier but if you keep the freezers sealed up regular ice will last a while. By a roll of wide vinal or duct tape and while pushing down slightly put a wrap around the joint between lid an body holding the seal tighter and sealing any gaps.

Back in the days of ice boxes ice would be cut in the winter and packed in building in sawdust and last most of the year. Even in the in house ice boxes a block would last a couple days, The big thing is dont open it unless absolutely needed.

[megasupermagnum]

Fill the thing to the top with dry ice, the less room, the longer it lasts. Then cover the freezer in as many blankets as you care to spare. Sealing the lid with tape might help too.

[Ozark mike]

Get a inverter to power the freezer a few times a day just let it run until it kicks off then wait 6 or 8 hrs rinse and repeat

[slim1836]

When's the cookout, should be a good one. :2 drunk buddies:

Slim

[popper]

Yea, wife talked to friend with relatives there, big mess.

[remy3424]

I am in the NW part of the state, I wondered why I was getting a strange ring-back tone when calling folks in the SW corner this afternoon. We had a little wind, but not what you received, sounded like Des Moines had a lot of wind damage also.

[GregLaROCHE]

Amazon and other sellers that deliver may be an option for you. Whatever you do, try not to open your freezer anymore than you have to. You could even try to insulate it with blankets etc.

[pmer]

It might be worth a drive to a town an hour or two away and get a generator that way.

[reddog81]

Don’t come to Des Moines for a generator or chainsaw. It’s a big mess. Trees are down everywhere. I’ll be surprised if I get power tomorrow and then there’s more rain and storms in the forecast everyday until the weekend. My generator will be getting some use.

[MrWolf]

Hope everything works out. I went through enough storms and power outages that when I moved here I got a whole house generator and a 500 gal propane tank for it. With my back can't do what I used to. I can go weeks without power just by being smart. Good luck

[Three44s]

That really bites!

That much destruction with straight line winds over a large area is incredible.

Prayers sent!

Three44s

[farmerjim]

It might be worth a drive to a town an hour or two away and get a generator that way.

Buy it online and drive to the store even if it is 4 hours away. Buy some extra gas cans.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Wish I could help, +1 on the inverter they don't seem to go as fast as generators sometimes

It is the usual catch 22 I have a snow blower that hasn't been needed for 2+ years and a portable Generator that is needed generally once a year from storm damage, but when I do need them it is sure worth the effort of maintaining them and neither is leaving anytime soon

[redhawk0]

I wish I lived closer to you...I have 2 generators. One that I purchased and one my dad gave me when he downsized for retirement.

All good advice on here...I hope it works out that you can save the majority of the meat at least.

redhawk

[bakerjw]

I took the wife to an eye appointment yesterday. While I sat 3 hours in the car, I saw a news report on the TV inside of one of the offices showing a storm moving into northern Illinois. I've not seen anything about it on the news this morning though.
If I could help, I would.
But, for sure. If you can buy a generator online from TSC, Northern Tool, Farm & Fleet and pick it up at a tore a few hour drive away, do it now because others will do the same exact thing.

[rdwarrior]

I am in the NW part of the state, I wondered why I was getting a strange ring-back tone when calling folks in the SW corner this afternoon. We had a little wind, but not what you received, sounded like Des Moines had a lot of wind damage also.

Yes your part of the state was spared the really bad winds. I have family in Cherokee county where I grew up and we talked to them yesterday. Also have friends in the SE part of the state (around Iowa City) who sent us a video as the winds were blowing. definitely bad. Reminded me of the blizzard of 74/75 with 90 mph winds.

[Froogal]

Remember the Y2K scare? I've wondered many times just where all of those generators ended up. Most of them were probably never even unboxed, and are still residing in the back of a garage somewhere.

[No_1]

I have a Yamaha 1800 watt gen I purchased when HUGO came through 30 years ago. I had considered purchasing a huge gen as I thought I needed to run the whole house but when I saw the fueling requirements decided I only needed enough to keep the freezers, fridge, a radio, a fan, and coffee maker running. The 1800 watt unit provides 24 hours run time on ~6 gallons of fuel which is very affordable. After 2 days of around the clock running I realized I only needed to run it maybe 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning then 2 at night to keep the fridge/freezers cold. I even ran the washer one time then hung the clothes on the line to dry them.

Another option is a used motor home. They are available everywhere and sometimes cheap when the owner wants to get rid of it. I have a 20 year old diesel pusher unit with a 6500 watt diesel gen which is fed from its own 100 gallon fuel tank. The camper can keep you comfortable during tough times with enough reserve power to keep the home freezers/fridge running.

[justashooter]

Get a inverter to power the freezer a few times a day just let it run until it kicks off then wait 6 or 8 hrs rinse and repeat

2KW should cost about $100 at an auto-parts store like pep-boys. easy to wire in. run the car at idle when you use it for the fridge, but don't run sensitive electronics on it when the engine is running.

[tomme boy]

Went to the old ladies parents this morning. They have a 8K generator. Loaded in back of truck. They did not get hardly any wind 20 miles north of me. Got it hooked up and running the fridge and deep freeze. I let 2 other neighbors hook up just their fridges. They have newborns and the other has a o2 generator to breathe.

Service trucks just got out about 4 this afternoon. The city had their people picking up the trashcans instead of cleaning the streets. Been to 6 houses cutting the trees off of them and clearing the streets so they could get out.

I am hurting bad right now. My old lady made me stop she said I looked like I was going to have a heart attack. Headed to Wisconsin tomorrow to get a couple generators for my mother and brother. Going to pull the power off the main from outside power and hook them right to the panel. That way everything in the house will work.

[megasupermagnum]

Went to the old ladies parents this morning. They have a 8K generator. Loaded in back of truck. They did not get hardly any wind 20 miles north of me. Got it hooked up and running the fridge and deep freeze. I let 2 other neighbors hook up just their fridges. They have newborns and the other has a o2 generator to breathe.

Service trucks just got out about 4 this afternoon. The city had their people picking up the trashcans instead of cleaning the streets. Been to 6 houses cutting the trees off of them and clearing the streets so they could get out.

I am hurting bad right now. My old lady made me stop she said I looked like I was going to have a heart attack. Headed to Wisconsin tomorrow to get a couple generators for my mother and brother. Going to pull the power off the main from outside power and hook them right to the panel. That way everything in the house will work.

Don't hook the generator directly into the house, unless you know exactly how. If your house is still connected to the power lines, the voltage will now get stepped up through the transformer, and is a guaranteed way to kill a lineman working to fix the line.

[tomme boy]

Thats what I used to do. I know all about electricity. I used to do all the electrical in 3 different factories I worked in. Thats why I said I was unhooking the main power from outside.

It has been a roller coaster for me in the last few weeks. Father died. Drove to southern Texas to do all the arrangements. Drove back 3 days later. Got home and the gutters were ripped off the back side of the house from a storm that went through. Then the central air motor for the condenser burned up. No one had one except a place 100 miles away. Then they gave me the wrong capacitor for the start. Had to drive 45 miles to a different place as no one in town had a dual run cap.

I was hoping the bad luck that runs in 3's was going to stop. But NOOOOOOOO....... I am tired and hot and glad we have a gas water heater with a pilot light. At least we have warm water and the stove is gas too. So the only left is the AC not hooked up yet. It is looking like a week or more before we have power.

I told the neighbors I was going to shut off the gen in the morning while I was gone. I don't want to leave it running while I am not here.

[samari46]

Bought a 6500 kw generator because I was tired of sitting in the dark after a hurricane. Came in very handy living in Louisiana. Last big storm made the decision to get a Generac 22kw natural gas/propane generator with transfer switch. Works great and no more humping the old gas generator around and storing anywhere from 20-25 gallons of gas. But just in case won't be getting rid of the old one. Always have a plan B. Got a 500 propane tank but they don't fill it full. Usually only 80% to allow for expansion. If I'd known about that I would have got the 1000 gallon one. Frank

[tomme boy]

Got internet on phone again. Uscellular was down the whole time. The old lady has sprint and it worked the whole time.

[megasupermagnum]

Thats what I used to do. I know all about electricity. I used to do all the electrical in 3 different factories I worked in. Thats why I said I was unhooking the main power from outside.

It has been a roller coaster for me in the last few weeks. Father died. Drove to southern Texas to do all the arrangements. Drove back 3 days later. Got home and the gutters were ripped off the back side of the house from a storm that went through. Then the central air motor for the condenser burned up. No one had one except a place 100 miles away. Then they gave me the wrong capacitor for the start. Had to drive 45 miles to a different place as no one in town had a dual run cap.

I was hoping the bad luck that runs in 3's was going to stop. But NOOOOOOOO....... I am tired and hot and glad we have a gas water heater with a pilot light. At least we have warm water and the stove is gas too. So the only left is the AC not hooked up yet. It is looking like a week or more before we have power.

I told the neighbors I was going to shut off the gen in the morning while I was gone. I don't want to leave it running while I am not here.

No, unfortunately sometimes life just slams you until you have nothing left. I know the feeling all too well, 2019 wasn't exactly my high point. Thankfully it always gets better in time if you let it.

[Dapaki]

We have a lot of friends in Vinton and Black Hawk county, have not heard from any of them, did they get hit?

[mattw]

I feel fortunate... we only had 50 to 60 mph straight line winds. They did last about 20 minutes and then one heck of a rain.

[MaryB]

I got the northern edge of that when it started in SE SD... 70mph winds for an hour... moved the big antenna array(ham radio) about 20 degrees.

[Geezer in NH]

We just had a heck of a storm go through. 100mph winds. The whole town is out of power. Uscellular is the main cell here and they are down in the east part of the state.

Really bites. We have been stock piling meat and it is all in the deep freeze but they are saying up to 2 weeks for the power to get back on

Missed a big part of your preps. Being nice here but review of your rest is necessary.

Being rural NH we have had generation since 1985.

We are on our third one now. [the first is still in the home we first had and still up and running, whole house diesel bought from the survival guide ads.] Now an 8000 watt with built in transfer switch we plug it into. Use it 3-4 times per year. Cost around $1100 for gen and hookup.

Your home insurance should cover your loss. Make sure if the freezers smell the get you replacements also.

[MaryB]

Smelly freezers can be cleaned, we did it all the time at the appliance store... suckiest job there too!