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| Braving a New England ice storm | Braving a New England ice storm |
| (about 23 hours later) | |
| By Simon Winchester Massachusetts The morning after the stormEnlarge Image | By Simon Winchester Massachusetts The morning after the stormEnlarge Image |
| We knew this storm was coming, and we knew just why. Warm air was barrelling its way up from the Gulf and was due to collide with a sliver of ultra-cold air from Canada. | We knew this storm was coming, and we knew just why. Warm air was barrelling its way up from the Gulf and was due to collide with a sliver of ultra-cold air from Canada. |
| Some time in the late evening, around 2200, rain was due to fall. Passing through the Canadian air, it would become super-cool, well below freezing. Hitting anything on the surface, it would turn instantly into ice. | Some time in the late evening, around 2200, rain was due to fall. Passing through the Canadian air, it would become super-cool, well below freezing. Hitting anything on the surface, it would turn instantly into ice. |
| American weather forecasts are usually right on the money. At home everyone was prepared, the chickens were fed. We had left candles and torches around the house and wood beside the fireplaces. And at 2230, the storm began. | American weather forecasts are usually right on the money. At home everyone was prepared, the chickens were fed. We had left candles and torches around the house and wood beside the fireplaces. And at 2230, the storm began. |
| It was oddly warm and as soft rain began to fall, everything we could see by the house lights - the grass, the fences, the crab-apple trees - turned white, dripping icicles. | It was oddly warm and as soft rain began to fall, everything we could see by the house lights - the grass, the fences, the crab-apple trees - turned white, dripping icicles. |
| Power cuts | Power cuts |
| Then, as the weight of ice began to build up, trees began to lean over, some on to power lines, and as they did so, the lights began to flicker. As the ice accumulation thickened, entire trees began to topple over in huge explosions of broken wood and ice | Then, as the weight of ice began to build up, trees began to lean over, some on to power lines, and as they did so, the lights began to flicker. As the ice accumulation thickened, entire trees began to topple over in huge explosions of broken wood and ice |
| The dog started to howl and ran under the bed. By midnight the power had been cut twice, but had restarted. I fell asleep at about 0100, sure that we had seen the worst. | The dog started to howl and ran under the bed. By midnight the power had been cut twice, but had restarted. I fell asleep at about 0100, sure that we had seen the worst. |
| But I awoke at 0400 to a strangely sinister sound, as if a skeleton's fingers were rapping on the windowpanes. | But I awoke at 0400 to a strangely sinister sound, as if a skeleton's fingers were rapping on the windowpanes. |
| The power was now out again and only in torchlight could I see what had happened: the ice-covered branches of a chestnut tree had bowed so far over, they were brushing against the window, rat-tatting in the steady North wind. | The power was now out again and only in torchlight could I see what had happened: the ice-covered branches of a chestnut tree had bowed so far over, they were brushing against the window, rat-tatting in the steady North wind. |
| As I looked more closely I saw with astonishment that the ice on each twig was now a good two inches thick, and rain was still falling. Each branch must weigh hundreds of pounds, getting heavier all the time. | As I looked more closely I saw with astonishment that the ice on each twig was now a good two inches thick, and rain was still falling. Each branch must weigh hundreds of pounds, getting heavier all the time. |
| Searching for warmth | Searching for warmth |
| I thought surely the trees could not stand it much longer. | I thought surely the trees could not stand it much longer. |
| And just then there began a long litany of explosive cracks from the forest. One after another branches were shattering. As the ice accumulation thickened, entire trees began to topple over in huge explosions of broken wood and ice. | And just then there began a long litany of explosive cracks from the forest. One after another branches were shattering. As the ice accumulation thickened, entire trees began to topple over in huge explosions of broken wood and ice. |
| Maple, oak, sycamore, elm, hickory, locust, it did not matter. Down they were coming in their hundreds and probably thousands. | Maple, oak, sycamore, elm, hickory, locust, it did not matter. Down they were coming in their hundreds and probably thousands. |
| It was perfectly silent, graveyard still, except that every minute or so came an immense unexpected crack, like a gunshot, as another unseen tree broke | It was perfectly silent, graveyard still, except that every minute or so came an immense unexpected crack, like a gunshot, as another unseen tree broke |
| Inside, the rooms were growing cold. The phones did not work. The water pressure was dropping. By degrees, the house seemed to be dying. | Inside, the rooms were growing cold. The phones did not work. The water pressure was dropping. By degrees, the house seemed to be dying. |
| I lit the wood stove, heating what the builders of this farm, back in the 18th Century, had called the keeping room, the one room you try at all costs to keep warm. | I lit the wood stove, heating what the builders of this farm, back in the 18th Century, had called the keeping room, the one room you try at all costs to keep warm. |
| I dozed in front of it. The dog joined me after a while and then my wife, both unable to sleep up in the frigid bedroom. We waited until the sun came up, around 0700. | I dozed in front of it. The dog joined me after a while and then my wife, both unable to sleep up in the frigid bedroom. We waited until the sun came up, around 0700. |
| Outside was a scene of the purest white and the most utter devastation. | Outside was a scene of the purest white and the most utter devastation. |
| All our trees were down and along the dirt road that connects us to the outside world, were metre after metre of vast, ice-covered trunks and branches, all fallen, some leaning against sagging power lines and telephone wires. | All our trees were down and along the dirt road that connects us to the outside world, were metre after metre of vast, ice-covered trunks and branches, all fallen, some leaning against sagging power lines and telephone wires. |
| Emergency alert | Emergency alert |
| It was perfectly silent, graveyard still, except that every minute or so came an immense unexpected crack, like a gunshot, as another unseen tree broke, and then went down, falling in a roar of shattering ice. | It was perfectly silent, graveyard still, except that every minute or so came an immense unexpected crack, like a gunshot, as another unseen tree broke, and then went down, falling in a roar of shattering ice. |
| The calm after the stormEnlarge Image | |
| The car in the driveway was untouched and so, happily, was our rooster, who came crowing merrily from underneath an ice-rimmed tractor. | The car in the driveway was untouched and so, happily, was our rooster, who came crowing merrily from underneath an ice-rimmed tractor. |
| But we were trapped. There was no way we could drive out. | |
| So we chose to walk out, through the forest. | So we chose to walk out, through the forest. |
| The battery radio was saying that this was a region-wide emergency. The National Guard was being called out and it might be a week before power was restored. | The battery radio was saying that this was a region-wide emergency. The National Guard was being called out and it might be a week before power was restored. |
| There was just no point in staying and besides, I had a speech to give in New York. | There was just no point in staying and besides, I had a speech to give in New York. |
| So we gathered up a couple of suitcases and, with the dog on her leash, spent ages walking, dodging under and over the trees, trying to avoid shattering falls of glass-sharp ice... until, looking for all the world like a family of refugees, we finally emerged onto an ice-slick paved highway. | So we gathered up a couple of suitcases and, with the dog on her leash, spent ages walking, dodging under and over the trees, trying to avoid shattering falls of glass-sharp ice... until, looking for all the world like a family of refugees, we finally emerged onto an ice-slick paved highway. |
| Winter kindness | Winter kindness |
| In houses lower down the mountain that had not been so badly affected we found friends, all proving themselves to be just that. | In houses lower down the mountain that had not been so badly affected we found friends, all proving themselves to be just that. |
| The aftermath of the ice storm | |
| One man offered his excavator to open up our road. Another loaned us his car, no questions asked, so we could drive down to New York. | One man offered his excavator to open up our road. Another loaned us his car, no questions asked, so we could drive down to New York. |
| The village police chief told us not to worry, he would make sure the house was fine while we were away. | The village police chief told us not to worry, he would make sure the house was fine while we were away. |
| By the time we got to Manhattan my friend Mark had left a message to say he had managed to get two generators into our farm, had some small amount of electricity flowing again and had fed the chickens. And the rooster, by the way, was fine. | By the time we got to Manhattan my friend Mark had left a message to say he had managed to get two generators into our farm, had some small amount of electricity flowing again and had fed the chickens. And the rooster, by the way, was fine. |
| The good people of New England, I thought. Stoic, taciturn, patient and eternally kind... no-one quite like them, anywhere in the world... especially in the depths of an American winter. | The good people of New England, I thought. Stoic, taciturn, patient and eternally kind... no-one quite like them, anywhere in the world... especially in the depths of an American winter. |
| From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 20 December, 2008 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. | From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 20 December, 2008 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. |
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