Oklahoma Winter Wallop

On Thursday January 28, 2010 God blessed us with a massive amount of rain, which we can always use here in Oklahoma, but at about 1pm while we're all at work the temperature drops to 32 degrees and the wind starts to pick up. The handrails and metal steps at work are starting to freeze and people are starting to worry. Some people from work took off at lunch to head home to prepare for the winter wallop that was slowly approaching. At 2:30 we received an email from someone upstairs saying that they were shutting down the plant at 3 so everyone should leave at 3 and come back at 9am on Friday morning unless otherwise told. They'd set up a weather update number that we could call just in case Halliburton didn't have power. We got home and we still had power thank goodness! We drove around town and the only store that was open was the Chisholm Corner on Elder. People were lined up getting gas and stocking up on useful items like water and beer of course :) We got home and by the time the sun went down we were the only house on the block with power. At 1:45am we lost power. Thankfully, we still had heat, since we have gas heat. I can deal without power for a few days but I can't imagine what people are going through right now with no source of heat or water. Yes I said water too. A fire broke out at the water plant and they had to turn off the water. We got our power back Friday night at about midnight. Saturday, dad headed to Wichita Falls to meet my uncle from Abilene to pick up 3 generators. One for Mom and Dad, one for Mum and Poppie and one for Diane and Krista. We'd heard rumors that electricity wouldn't be back until Monday night or mid week so they decided a generator would be the best thing to do and that way if this happens again, they'll be prepared. Dad and Chris got everyone's generators hooked up right before dark. As of today, Sunday, there are a few houses on our block that have electricity. A few businesses on the west side of the road have power so a few fast food places are open which I'm sure people are loving the warm food! Mom called me a couple hours ago and they now have power, but Mum and Poppie are still out but still have minimal electricity from the generator. Here are some photos I've taken today as we drove around. Duncan looks like a ghost town. Not many people are out and there are still a lot of houses without power.