I thought it was bad last summer (2008) when I went nearly a week without power after high winds from Hurricane Ike remnants blew threw the region, but now parts of my current residence in Ohio as well as Kentucky have been going without power. The ice and snow storm that hit the region earlier this week has left thousands without power for days leading people to take desperate and sometimes deadly measures to keep their families warm.

Before I go on, if there’s anything I want you to register in reserve of self preservation dont’s is this…

DO NOT PLACE GENERATORS INSIDE YOUR GARAGE OR OTHER UNVENTILATED AREA

NEVER BRING YOUR CHARCOAL GRILL INDOORS, EVEN SIMMERING COALS FOR WARMTH

…IN BOTH CASES, YOU WILL ** DIE ** FROM CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING!!!

It’s disheartening to hear about so many of the deaths related to this mass power outage by people taking dangerous, deadly measures as last ditch attempts to stay warm within their own homes.

From NBC 4 in Columbus, Ohio…

HOCKING COUNTY RESIDENTS REELING FROM EFFECTS OF SNOW, ICE

Friday marked the third day for several area counties without power and it may not be until the end of the weekend before power is completely restored, Storm Team 4‘s Ben Gelber reported.

“My mom’s been without power probably for the last three days down in Nelsonville,“ said Johnnie Carson, a Logan resident.

Hocking County residents said Hurricane Ike was a walk in the park compared to the disruption caused by ice-laden trees falling on power lines…

…“It’s a blessing because it’s been horrible. (We’ve had) no electric since Tuesday at 4 in the morning, pipes busting, trees falling all over,“ said Christal Hall, a Logan resident.

When 98 percent of Hocking County was without power, HAM radio operators stepped up to help.

Power was mostly restored in Logan by Friday afternoon, but strong winds wreaked havoc with ice-coated power lines in rural Fairfield and Hocking counties, where tens of thousands may be without electricity until Sunday.

From the Associated Press…

ICE BATTERED KENTUCKY PLEADS FOR HELP FROM STORM

Temperatures were expected to rise just above freezing Saturday for the first time in days.

At least 42 people have died in the icy arc of destruction that began in the Midwest. At least nine deaths were reported in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

In Kentucky, where 11 people had died, a man and two women were the latest victims after they were found dead in a southwestern Louisville home. One woman was found in a bed; the other two were found in the garage with a generator, police spokesman Phil Russell said…

…

In Poplar Bluff, Mo., a man used a barbecue grill inside to cook and keep warm, deputy police chief Jeff Rolland said.

“Luckily, one of our volunteers was in a position to see what he was doing and inform him of the carbon monoxide dangers of using a charcoal grill inside a residence,” Rolland said.

President Barack Obama on Friday declared a federal emergency for Missouri, making the state eligible for federal funds even as power outages lingered in much of the southern portion of the state.

In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear said crews were working around the clock to restore power and get food and water to needed areas. Beshear said state government would “spare no expense” in recovery efforts…

…

Doris Hemingway, 78, spent three days bundled in blankets to ward off the cold in her Leitchfield mobile home. News that it could take up to six weeks for power to be restored sent Hemingway and his husband, Bill, into a shelter at a local high school.

“I’d pray awhile and I’d cry awhile,” Doris Hemingway said. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”

From CNN…

WINTER STORM CAUSES MASSIVE KENTUCKY OUTAGE

…In western Louisville, three adults were found dead Friday morning of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator the family brought indoors, Mayor Jerry Abramson said.

The deaths prompted authorities to issue a stern warning about the dangers of carbon monoxide…

…When Hurricane Ike hit in September, 600,000 customers lost power. Melnykovych said the temperature was around 75 degrees and power outages were more of an “inconvenience than a life-threatening situation.”

“Hurricane Ike didn’t have this kind of impact,” he said…

We are not affected by this here in Columbus, OH so it’s like watching y’all in the southeast through a fishbowl.  Bring it home for me, peeps.  Tell me your stories.  How is this gas shortage affecting you?

from peakoil.com…

HOUSTON — Some gasoline stations in parts of the Southeast are out of fuel and shortages could persist for days as refiners continue to recover from the one-two punch of hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

The storm, which struck the Texas coast 10 days ago, caused less damage to the region’s energy infrastructure than feared. In most cases, the biggest issue for refiners has been getting electricity restored and their equipment restarted — a process that can take several days because of the size and complexity of the plants.

“We’re capable of running full operations, but we don’t have the supply to maintain that kind of flow rate,” said Steve Baker, a spokesman for Colonial Pipeline, which delivers gasoline and other fuel from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to major cities in the Southeast and along the East Coast.

Baker said Monday the pipeline, which was not damaged in the storms, was beginning to get barrels from affected refineries, but he couldn’t say when Colonial would be back at full capacity.

That all depends on how soon the refineries themselves return to normal operations.

excerpt from usatoday.com…

The pipelines that supply the region are operating at less than normal capacity, due largely to storm-related power outages at Texas refineries, said Kenneth Medlock, energy fellow at the Baker Institute, a non-partisan public policy think tank at Rice University in Houston.

The Southeast, the only region of the nation that has no oil refining or major gasoline storage capacity, pumps all of its gasoline in by pipeline, he said.

“In isolation, neither of these storms would have been that big a deal, because there’s enough inventory (at stations) to make up the shortfall,” said Medlock. “But there was a three- to four-week period of refinery capacity not operating. That’s basically a month when nothing’s being produced.”

Panic buying — drivers topping off every time they happen across a station that actually has gas — made the problem worse, said Marylee Booth, executive director of the Tennessee Oil Marketers Association.

“If people saw a tanker drive up to a station, they’d start lining up. The panic has died down. It’s getting a little better every day.”

I am hearing and reading that Nashville has the worst of this situation.