There are few things that can create as much beauty and misery as an ice storm. Ice-encased tree branches offer a stunning landscape of crystal, but the weight of that same ice causes those branches to break on top of houses and across roads and power lines, damaging property, making travel dangerous and depriving households of electricity and heat.
This past weekend’s sweeping storm, which produced heavy snow to the north and lots of ice to the south, is being regarded as the worst such winter storm to hit Mississippi since 1994. At its peak on Sunday, about 200,000 homes and businesses in this state were without electricity, and an untold number were without water. More than half of the state’s counties have been impacted by the storm, which wasn’t satisfied with dispensing a wicked mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain over a two-day span. It also has left bitterly cold temperatures in its wake.
Weather events like this cause one to be in awe of the incredible forces in nature. They also provide a powerful reminder of the gratitude due to those who help restore safety, comfort and normalcy — utility workers, road crews, plumbers, tree trimmers and others — as quickly as they can.
Their job can be dangerous. A 4,000-volt power line will kill a person on contact. So will a 300-pound branch falling from above.
Their work is often done under physically taxing conditions. Think it’s cold inside when your heat goes out? Try standing in a bucket truck 40 feet up in the air, trying to repair a transformer or reinstall a power line, with wind chills in the single digits and sleet stinging your face. Or slide through freezing cold water in the crawl space under a house to try to repair a burst pipe. Now that’s misery.
And it can go on for a while, keeping them for weeks working long hours and sometimes far away from their families.
Be thankful for the individuals who do this work. They are heroes in their own right.
