Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Tulsa Ice Storm

The calm before the storm- lunch after church
Meg & Dad @ Goldies

Meg & Sophia Dunaway

My trip to Tulsa was rough to say the least. I was there for my Grandma's memorial which was to take place Monday the 10th and the first leg of the trip was spent having funeral meetings with my parents, Aunt Kathie & Uncle Pete (for the Westlake/ Malibu services taking place next Saturday), writing speeches, going to church, reminiscing over fond Grandma memories, shopping for black clothing (dress, tights, cardigan sweater, outfit for my mom) and crying over and over with my family.

Then came the ICE STORM! Freezing rain arrived Sunday morning - it took an hour pouring hot water on the car just to be able to open the door! In the afternoon the storm knocked out our power. We lit candles, put on many many layers, bundled up under the covers and went to bed hoping for the best... What came next was like nothing we could have EVER imagined...we woke up around midnight to the loudest crashes, the house shaking and bright blue lights in the sky (exploding transformers)! The freezing rain had coated everything - creating a thick layer of ice - especially detrimental to the beautiful trees! Once the trees became too heavy covered in ice, they began to crack and fall like crazy - ALL OF THEM. The 100+ year old trees (especially previlent in my parents section of town) have been falling ever since. Branches and whole trees fell in the street, on our house, crashing into our roof and on my Mom's mini cooper. All of Tulsa is in a true state if emergency - Needless to say, we never went back to sleep. By the time morning came it was the beginning of what looked like a war zone. 330,000 homes are still out of power and they HOPE to get it up and running by December 18th. Oklahoma was soon declared a federal disaster zone and reported as the worst ice storm in the state's history! We went into survival mode - we desperately searched for firewood as ours was frozen and wet...nothing was open, no one had power. The streets are mostly blocked and power lines are laying in the streets. Slowly generators went up at a few gas stations where the lines were 50 people deep. We were freezing, in the dark and frantic! Our cells quickly were out of juice and we were directed to shelters (we refused to take this route)...My friend Emily (our hero) found a guy who was driving far away to get a few generators and we put ourselves on the list. My Grandma's memorial was cancelled as well as my flight home (airport totally without power)- last night we got a call from Emily that she had scored us a generator but we needed to find gasoline and 30 weight oil to power it. My mom and I set out in search of these goods - we knocked on neighbors doors looking for a gas can (all gas cans were gone from the few open gas stations) - finally late last night we found all our ingredients, but it was too late and dark to hook the generator up - and so again, we slept in below freezing conditions with candles huddled around a transistor radio. This morning we went to find more gas and oil to take to Emily's (she has a baby and was more of a priority than we were) - We finally got the generator up and running this afternoon, but it doesn't power too much at the same time. We plugged in the refrigerator, my dad's computer and a space heater. My Uncle Pete went to Arkansas and brought us back dry wood, so my parent's house is warmer than it was...My Grandma's memorial has been postponed to next week and I will have to miss it.
Thank Goodness the airport finally reopened and I was able to get myself out of there late this eve - It was honestly the most horrible tragic situation I have ever been a part of!


My Mom's Car!



My parents street
Finally found gasoline!
Emily Dunaway came to the rescue with a generator!

My fiance stopped by to see if we were okay...

My parent's backyard is trashed

8 comments:

Brooke and Peter said...

holy crap! thanks for the pics... clark sent me some too and i still can't believe it! my mom's house has power...your parents should crash there until theirs is back... sounds like 1/2 the city is at their place right now.
glad to know Clark checked in on you... good fiance.

Anonymous said...

There he is with that hat again. What's under the hat? - Kat

Danielle said...

OMG! I am in love with your fiance Clark! He is soooo cute! Craziness in Tulsa-glad everyone is OK.

Anonymous said...

that is so crazy! so glad to hear everyone is ok...keeping good ol'e oklahoma in my prayers

Anonymous said...

Its just like the movie ICE STORM! Insane!

Anonymous said...

tell Kat that I have a head full of luscious locks. And if she needs verification I can certainly mail her some clippings.

Anonymous said...

Megan was amazing! If ever you are in a natural disaster...she's the one to have by your side! She didn't panic, came up with very clever ways to stay warm...if plan A didn't work she calmly went to plan B...she had no fear...was a tower of strength! Thanks Dear Meg!

Anonymous said...

A "hero"? Aw shucks Meg, thanks for the kudos, but props to Ellen too:) Someday we can all look back on this and laugh, maybe? Glad to finally make your blog and Sophie too! I was only able to read it today after being offline for 8 *&^%$#@! days. See you next week, again:)