I told Maryl I would post some pictures of the aftermath of the storm clean up. This continues to be a massive undertaking. Preliminary reports are it will take two years for total clean up. A neighboring county reported one million cubic yards of debris already hauled to a mulching center.

I wanted to share the scope of this storm and when I received the March monthly periodical from our power co-op, I decided to give their details. Winter storm Fern left a corridor of ice starting just north of Vicksburg and running to the northeast corner of the state ( moving on up through Tennessee and other states). The area was 25-50 miles wide and 300 miles long (in my state of Mississippi) and all that area covered in

1 1/2 inches of ice. The outages topped 163,000 meters in the service areas of 15 different electric co-ops. In most co-op areas, every single meter had lost power. Broken utility poles were in excess of 10,000. Linemen referred to it as a “frozen hurricane“ because the trees were bent in a swirling motion covered in ice. The restoration was slow due to several days of below freezing temps with lows in single digits. Roads and highways had to be cleared of trees before power trucks could begin work. Over 1200 additional linemen from other unaffected co-ops and 13 states were brought in.

The clean up has been daunting. Contract crews are working first-clearing the roads and right of ways. If a tree suffered 30% damage, it is cut down. This debris is piled along the sides of roads. The county will pick up residence debris but only after the contract crews are done so we have miles and miles of debris lining our roads! The dangers are great as there are many hanging branches and broken treetops still in play as well as many leaning trees.

Just a few photos of what’s going on in my world!

This is how many pine trees look-just sticks in the ground

From a neighbor’s tree farm-he has no idea how much of his crop he lost but the amount will be significant

On one of the roadways by my house-trees had to be cut out of the roads

Tree in my front yard-lost the top and has many inverted branches. This tree will be cut down but meanwhile we most definitely cannot walk under it!

Debris from one side of my house-waiting on county pickup

Debris from back of my house- the other side of the house debris was taken to a brush pile in a field

What we see on the sides of the roads

Another view-you can see the debris has been picked up in the background up to this pile

See the trees cut in the background-they were 30% trees and will be left to rot in the forest

My brother’s back yard-utility pole had to be replaced. Old pole and wires were left to be picked up later-I see this everywhere. Lots of wire and poles-this photo was taken yesterday-over 2 months after the ice storm