02 February 2009

Kentucky: Trapped Under Ice

Shea from West Kentucky writes in that I have yet to talk about the disaster in Bluegrass State...so here y'all go.

This is a photo I stole from KY Woman's blog, which is a pretty view of an ice storm's aftermath that belongs in a Norman Rockwell painting or something. Unfortunately, this same ice storm has resulted in a spate of deaths and conked out the electricity for over 400K residents. Jazz Shaw from The Moderate Voice says the Obama administration isn't doing enough for this red state:

I think the point being made here isn’t that anyone seriously believes President Obama is looking to exterminate White Republicans, but rather two more salient questions:

1. Where is the matching outraged response we saw after Katrina in the press?
2. Where is FEMA? This certainly looks like a disaster which should be right up their alley.

Stay tuned. And give some thoughts and prayers for those locked out in the cold in Kentucky.
Hmm, this seems like a tacky way to exploit tragedy for partisan purposes. The President has already declared the area a federal emergency and the Governor (a Democrat) has already called up the National Guard. But I'm way out on the West Coast so I don't know how's it going. Let's hear from our Kentucky residents how the response has been.

8 comments:

olgreydog7 said...

It may be tacky, but it's true. I'm not there either, but I have lived through major ice storms before. Power was out for a week at my house, a month at others. Seriously, what can FEMA or the Guard do? Use their heat vision to melt the ice? Sure their are probably some rescue services and what not, but for the most part they are hamstrung until the ice melts enough to really gets things going. Maybe if they just move a bunch of trucks and buses in there and just let them idle, they can provide some temporary relief by concentrated global warming.

Anonymous said...

Ice is the worst. If it was snow, they could come in there with extra plows and blowers and have a ton of people clearing roads. But with ice tearing down the power lines, you are in big doo-doo.

I feel bad for the residents, but I feel bad for the power crews, too. Good luck to everyone.

Kath

K-Dubyah said...

Ya know, I shoulda come here first to see what was being said.

Yes, Gov.Beshear did indeed call ALL Ky NG. And they've been working around the clock from what I've read. As have the power crews.

But you must remember, this isn't the first ice storm we've had. Nor the worst. People have to be responsible for their own safety, food and power options. Seriously!
Heck, is everyone helpless? Surely not in KY. We've been thru floods, tornado's and other natural disasters. I'm pretty sure that we will weather this one as well.

Maybe everybody has gotten used to living in all electric homes, so events like this cause even more mayhem. Spoiled, we are. But, even with a level 3 snow emergency, I still went to work every day.

Btw, thanks for the compliment on the picture. Here in my neck of the woods, it was pretty.

K-Dubyah said...

Uh, this just in from the news...

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Kentucky-Governor-Asks-For-Federal-Disaster-Help/MVyF02UHP0mqvqN4USnEVQ.cspx?rss=30

Anonymous said...

Kentucky ALWAYS gets ice storms, but probably not this bad. I remember getting 14" of snow there in January of 1994 (I was in the field, yippeee) and it shut the Stated down.

Nixon said...

Hope all you KY peeps are getting thawed out, but Punx Phil says more cold is on the way. Stay warm.

Anonymous said...

I don't get this groundhog day shit. It's february -- of course it's going to be cold for 6 more weeks. Good luck, KY. I've been through hurricanes and no power for a week or so. At least it was hot out.

Jason Shaw said...

We've had a little bit of snow over here in England over the last week and the whole place grinds to a halt for a while. OK, so snow here, on the coast is unusual, but it's hardly the ice storms you've had over there in KY and IL.

Still, looking forward to the future, it'll be spring soon!