Posted on 12/01/2006 11:51:59 AM PST by NormsRevenge
So you know so much about me? Well, dimbulb, you just proved you don't know much; I am not now, nor have I ever been, a GUY.
LOL!
Beating a dead horse cures all ills. ;o)
PROOF! WE DEMAND PROOF!
LOL.
Glad you're ok.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled fray.
L
Well, I'm not okay......that's why I'm up at this hour! Some kind of "bug" or something I can't seem to shake.
Good to see you.
You on the other hand should be in bed young lady.
Now try some herbal tea or a glass of warm milk or a shot of scotch...
The third one always works for me.
L
Latest update to last ap authored article..
15 deaths attributed to storm
Midwest, Northeast clean up after storm
CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061203/ap_on_re_us/wintry_weather
CHICAGO - Some crews repaired downed power lines, others swept debris from train tracks and National Guardsmen went door-to-door checking on residents after the Midwest's first big snowstorm of the season.
As temperatures fell below freezing, officials warned Saturday that some people could be without power for days.
The storm was blamed for at least 15 deaths as it spread ice and deep snow from Texas to Michigan and then blew through the Northeast late Friday and early Saturday. Schools and businesses were shuttered, and hundreds of travelers were stranded by canceled flights.
Nearly 600 Amtrak passengers in Illinois and Missouri were delayed up to 10 hours Friday and Saturday morning, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. With many tracks still strewn with downed trees and power lines, passengers were eventually taken by bus to their destinations.
Truck driver David Huwe got his 18-wheeler and load of frozen food back on the road Saturday after being stuck for more than 12 hours at a rest stop near Princeton, Ill., on Interstate 80, which was blocked by scores of trucks and cars that slid off the icy highway.
"I was supposed to be (in California) Sunday night," Huwe said by cell phone Saturday morning. He had revised his arrival time and hoped he'd make it by Monday.
Red Cross volunteers at Decatur helped some of the stranded I-80 travelers by ordering 100 McDonald's hamburgers, which were airlifted by the National Guard.
Guardsmen in Missouri and Illinois went knocking on doors in the St. Louis and East St. Louis areas to make sure residents were surviving the cold.
Many areas got more than a foot of snow. Highways were mostly clear Saturday but still had icy spots.
Airlines were recovering from the widespread cancellations caused by the storm; delays at Lambert Airport in St. Louis were generally 15 minutes or less Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There were no measurable delays Saturday at Chicago's two major airports, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
About 427,000 Ameren Corp. customers were without power in Missouri and Illinois on Saturday night. "It could be days before it's fully restored because it's really treacherous out there," Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said.
As the storm moved east, gusty wind blacked out more customers from Tennessee to New York. About 5,200 homes and businesses were still without power Saturday across upstate New York. About 1,500 waited for power in Michigan.
Two women were killed in Pennsylvania, one by a falling tree and another by a wind-blown section of roof, and another falling tree landed on a house and killed one person in New York, authorities said. Two men over the age of 60 died after shoveling snow in Wisconsin, and an 87-year-old woman died in the St. Louis areas in a house fire that started when an ice-laden tree limb fell on a power line, fire officials said.
Storm-related traffic deaths included two in Missouri, one in Kansas and one in Oklahoma. Near Paducah, Texas, a vehicle carrying high school girls' basketball players overturned on an icy highway, killing a 14-year-old player and injuring seven people.
In Illinois, a woman died after being struck by a snow plow that was backing up, and a 67-year-old man collapsed died of complications from heart disease after trimming tree limbs with a hand saw.
An Illinois woman also died after using a gas-powered generator in an unventilated garage, and a woman was killed while turning at an intersection where traffic lights weren't functioning because of the power outages, according to Madison County Coroner Stephen Nonn.
Now THAT is some package ;)
Hundreds of thousands lack power in Mo.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061203/ap_on_re_us/wintry_weather
BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS - The temperature barely rose into the 20s Sunday as hundreds of thousands waited for their electricity to be restored after it was knocked out in a devastating ice and snow storm.
Tawana Jean Cooper and her family spent Sunday at a Red Cross warming center in St. Louis, which they reached a day earlier from her suburban home after roads were cleared of ice, downed power lines and broken tree limbs.
Her three young grandchildren joined her at the shelter.
"They know this is not home. They know this is a disaster," Cooper said as she cradled her sleeping 5-month-old granddaughter in her arms.
"The American Red Cross has been a God's blessing," she said. About six dozen others also spent the night at the shelter.
Missouri National Guardsmen had been sent into the area to knock on doors and make sure people were safe. By early afternoon Sunday, the St. Louis temperature had reached only about 22 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
Thursday's storm was blamed for at least 15 deaths as it spread ice and deep snow from Texas to Michigan and then blew through the Northeast late Friday and early Saturday. Thousands of travelers were stranded by canceled flights, highways clogged by abandoned vehicles and stalled trains.
By Sunday afternoon, about 350,000 customers of St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. had no electricity in a roughly 300-mile swath from Jackson, Mo., northeast to Pontiac, Ill., paralleling the track of the storm. Spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said about 200,000 were in Missouri and about 150,000 in central and southern Illinois.
The utility said Sunday it would not estimate when power will be totally restored.
Trees throughout the region were glazed with a thick coat of ice that reflected the sunlight and also snapped tree limbs, bringing power lines down with them.
"It's slow," said Ameren repairman Bernie Kutz, after completing a job in south St. Louis. "The tools are freezing somewhat, and nothing wants to work right."
At the peak of the outages Friday, 510,000 customers were without power, Gallagher said. Hundreds of thousands also lost power in the other states hit by the storm.
In Peoria, Ill., fire officials urged homeowners to check their roofs after a nursing home ceiling collapsed, injuring four residents.
In Belleville, Ill., 20 miles east of St. Louis, most of the 100 cots at Westhaven Elementary School had been in use as a Red Cross shelter since noon Friday.
For much of the region, it was a reminder of the widespread outages caused by severe thunderstorms in July, when 948,000 in Missouri and Illinois were blacked out.
___
Associated Press writers Ashley M. Heher in Chicago and Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.
My dad lives in Buffalo Illinois about 15 miles from Springfield. He has been without power since Thursday. He talked to the chief of police for Buffalo-Mechanicsburg and he said they were told by Ameren power would be on anytime from Midnight to a week from today. I hope its sooner and not later because he has sleep apnea and needs his mask to sleep and it runs on electricity.
On the question of generators-how hard are they to set up? My dad was going to get one Saturday but they were taking preorders for later that day and he didn't want to pay and then not be able to hook the thing up.
Meanwhile I am hoping power comes back on soon for all those in the dark and the cold!
Everyone knows this weather pattern is a direct result of the USA not signing the Kyoto protocol (I must point out that this remark is rooted in sarcasm so please don't send me messages, both public and private, chastising me. Thank you).
Prayers up for those with medical needs and homebound that depend on electricity and don't have access to generators....
Lord keep them safe, warm and fed.
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