has anyone heard from keltin?
- Thread starter buckytom
- Start date
Not that I know of. See this thread especially near the end for more info.
http://netcookingtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18346
http://netcookingtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18346
I’m alive!!!
It’s been quite an ordeal, but we were blessed and faired far better than so many others. Yesterday they said there are 168 confirmed deaths in Alabama (per medical examiner), over 1700 injured, and countless missing.
Three miles north of me a tornado touched down and wiped out 2 stores and an entire neighborhood called Anderson Hills. DW always shops at the store that got destroyed, and had been there just a few hours before the storm hit. She missed it by a mere 2 hours.
The storm hit in 3 waves, each wave about 45 minutes to an hour apart, and each more deadly than the last. This caused a problem because many people were out in their yards trying to clean up from a previous wave when the next wave hit them.
Wed, April 27
Storm rolled in around 2PM, at 4PM my Manager told me to leave work, and leave now since another wave (the last one) was coming. I didn’t make it. The storm hit, and I was driving in pouring rain, and the windows were fogging badly. I had to take off my shirt to keep wiping off the window. My main road in had 3 power poles and lines down across the road, so I turned around to take a back route. A tree was down there, so I tried another. The roads were flooding, and I crossed deep water 6-7 times. That affected the front end of the car, the tires were shaking like they’d come off, the brakes went out, and finally the clutch went out, but I was close enough to coast home. Made it! But power was out.
Thur, April 28
Once the car dried out, it was fine. Whew! I went to work, but no power. All of Huntsville was down. I turned on the radio and began learning how bad it was. We could be a week or more without power. The city was (and still is) under a Dusk to Dawn curfew.
I needed a generator. No power in Huntsville, so can’t buy one here, so I headed north to Tennessee. Every exit with gas had 60 or more people in line with State Troopers directing traffic. I kept driving, and 70 miles north, I found a small town that wasn’t crowded. There I found a Small Engine Repair Shop with a small 5HP, 2200 watt generator for $180. I snatched it up. Had no gas for it, so went to Wal-Mart and bought a 5 gallon round igloo cooler and other supplies. The store was completely out of gas cans because everyone from Alabama had already came and bought them (as well as all D Batteries, bread, etc), so I had no choice but to try and use the round igloo cooler. I filled the cooler with gas, strapped it in the back seat of my car, said a prayer, and headed home.
Got the generator going and hooked up, but it is an old unit, and wasn’t putting out nearly the full 2200 watts anymore. But it put out enough to keep the freezer frozen, run a light, the TV, and the DVD player. And we had candles galore.
Fri, April 29
Went to Home Depot and there was a line out the door for a new shipment of generators. And they had real gas cans which is what I wanted! We bough three 5 gallon gas cans at 12.50 each and some tiki torches. We asked about the generators…..they were 5000 watts and cost 649.00. The cashier said that last year, the same generator only cost 499.
I’ve heard of other price gouging. Gas went up 24 cents a gallon, and some were charging 6 bucks for a gallon of gas. Luckily, they have hotlines for that and FEMA and the authorities are cracking down and prosecuting those that do it!
DW and I headed 70 miles north again to that small town (Lewisburg) and bought gas (21 gallons - 82 bucks!) for all three tanks and my car. Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought candles, bread, and a battery powered radio.
There is a family a few miles up the road that are low income and were hit harder than us. We start cooking for them, take them candles, flashlights, batteries, ice, and drinks.
Sat, April 30
We hear rain is coming, so I go to Home Depot and buy 2x4s and tarps to build a tent for the generator. Turned out well.
Starting to get used to things. No power, but the generator and candles make it tolerable. We have a hot plate to warm water for bathing, but that is slow and a heavy load for the aging generator. So we head out and buy a propane tank at a store that just got a shipment in. The Turkey fryer has a 5 gallon pot, and can heat 5 gallons of water to boiling in 15-20 minutes. We are now taking very hot baths, and have hot water for washing dishes and clothes in the bathtub. We hang a line out back to dry the clothes.
I tried running the washer on the generator, but it simply couldn’t do it. Not enough power, so we resort to washing in the tub.
We’re now cooking on the grill, my little charcoal “hot plate” that I posted about before, and the turkey fryer. There is a Publix up the street on a generator that is selling food. So we go there daily. My generator can’t keep the fridge cooler that 50 degrees, and that is too warm, but the freezer is a solid 20 degrees. So, fridge food has to be thrown out.
We continued to visit the family up the road and cook for them. Our routine is now to listen to WDRM all day on the battery powered radio, cook for the family up the street, heat water for bathing and dishes, cook for ourselves, then watch a DVD. It’s not a bad way to camp out.
Sun, March 1
Same routine, wake up and start the generator. We turn it off every night, and back on in the morning. The freezer is insulated well enough to handle this. The generator has a 1/2 gallon tank, and runs 2 hours on a tank. So I refill it every two hours. The first of the 5 gallon tanks is empty, and we are now into the 2nd one.
We drive into town, and a Wal-Mart and Dollar store are open. We look for a radio for the family up the street, but no one has any. We buy more candles, batteries, canned goods, and some food to cook.
Come home, do the “laundry” and hang it out. Cook dinner for the family, and box up the supplies and go visit them. Come home, keep the generator tanked up, light the tiki torches, sit on the front porch and listen to the radio. Cook on the grill and turkey fryer, watch a DVD, go to bed.
Mon, March 2
More power is on in Huntsville, so we drive around. Lines at all the stores that are open, especially the Laundromats. We get a few more supplies and head home for the usual routine.
Tue, March 3
It’s raining! Climb into the homemade tent, gas the generator, and get her going. Keep her gassed every 2 hours. It’s cold, it’s raining, and it sucks, but Jennie (the generator) has to be fed!
Then……..power came on at 12:10PM!!!! Everything came up perfectly, even the internet. Unreal!! I can’t believe Mediacom came up perfectly!!! They ALWAYS have problem even on a good day!!
Now we’re cleaning things up, storing the generator, washing clothes properly, and finally took a real hot shower after 7 days!! We’ll went to town to restock the fridge and then check on the family up the street.
We were so very fortunate. We dodged a bullet, and were able to pull things together and live rather comfortably all things considered. Our pets are fine and weren’t hurt. Our house wasn’t hurt (other than a small leak in the roof). With a little work, we were able to cook hot meals, take hot baths, charge our cell phones, watch TV, DVDs, and listen to the radio. Little things that I’ve taken for granted for so long, but no more!
There are so many people in town and around me right now that don’t even have a house or clothes. DW and I are doing what we can to donate and help out.
God Bless everyone here at NCT for keeping all of us down here in your thoughts! Please continue to do so as the recovery is ongoing and will take quite a while longer.
I haven’t seen this kind of wide spread damage since I lived in Mobile and went through the Hurricanes. It’s mind-blowing that this kind of destruction could happen so quickly and out of the blue this far north of the coast.
Recovery
The big problem in Huntsville is we receive our power from the TVA Nuclear Reactor. All lines from that reactor were severed and had to be replaced. Convoys of utility crews have come in from as far away as Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mobile, and many other places.
They have been able to get most of the downed poles in town back up and string new lines. All trees have been moved off the road and the roads are open. TVA is slowly rebuilding their feed lines, and turning things on gradually to avoid overload. Huntsville is now at 70% power, but still has around 30,000 people without power.
Current news says TVA will be delivering more power for distribution through-out the night, and the goal is 95% restoration by tomorrow afternoon.
When this first happened, and all the TVA feeds were severed, they brought in lines form nearby hydro-electric plants first. The order of power restoration has been and will continue to be:
1. Hospitals, Medical Centers, and Emergency services
2. Water service plants, Nursing Homes, and Retirement Communities. Some places lost water, but luckily, we never did. The Nursing Homes and Retirement communities were being run on generators until full power was restored.
3. Certain commercial facilities to offer gas, food, and needed supplies including pharmacies. A big problem has been those with diabetes getting their supplies, and those that need oxygen. Without power, oxygen concentrators can’t work, and emergency supplies of tanks had to be brought in to those that need it.
4. Residential customers.
5. Industries.
Since industries like where I work use so much power, they will come up last meaning a lot of us won’t be going to work for quite a while. Gonna have to pull some serious over-time to get over this one!
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers everyone, you’re the best!
It’s been quite an ordeal, but we were blessed and faired far better than so many others. Yesterday they said there are 168 confirmed deaths in Alabama (per medical examiner), over 1700 injured, and countless missing.
Three miles north of me a tornado touched down and wiped out 2 stores and an entire neighborhood called Anderson Hills. DW always shops at the store that got destroyed, and had been there just a few hours before the storm hit. She missed it by a mere 2 hours.
The storm hit in 3 waves, each wave about 45 minutes to an hour apart, and each more deadly than the last. This caused a problem because many people were out in their yards trying to clean up from a previous wave when the next wave hit them.
Wed, April 27
Storm rolled in around 2PM, at 4PM my Manager told me to leave work, and leave now since another wave (the last one) was coming. I didn’t make it. The storm hit, and I was driving in pouring rain, and the windows were fogging badly. I had to take off my shirt to keep wiping off the window. My main road in had 3 power poles and lines down across the road, so I turned around to take a back route. A tree was down there, so I tried another. The roads were flooding, and I crossed deep water 6-7 times. That affected the front end of the car, the tires were shaking like they’d come off, the brakes went out, and finally the clutch went out, but I was close enough to coast home. Made it! But power was out.
Thur, April 28
Once the car dried out, it was fine. Whew! I went to work, but no power. All of Huntsville was down. I turned on the radio and began learning how bad it was. We could be a week or more without power. The city was (and still is) under a Dusk to Dawn curfew.
I needed a generator. No power in Huntsville, so can’t buy one here, so I headed north to Tennessee. Every exit with gas had 60 or more people in line with State Troopers directing traffic. I kept driving, and 70 miles north, I found a small town that wasn’t crowded. There I found a Small Engine Repair Shop with a small 5HP, 2200 watt generator for $180. I snatched it up. Had no gas for it, so went to Wal-Mart and bought a 5 gallon round igloo cooler and other supplies. The store was completely out of gas cans because everyone from Alabama had already came and bought them (as well as all D Batteries, bread, etc), so I had no choice but to try and use the round igloo cooler. I filled the cooler with gas, strapped it in the back seat of my car, said a prayer, and headed home.
Got the generator going and hooked up, but it is an old unit, and wasn’t putting out nearly the full 2200 watts anymore. But it put out enough to keep the freezer frozen, run a light, the TV, and the DVD player. And we had candles galore.
Fri, April 29
Went to Home Depot and there was a line out the door for a new shipment of generators. And they had real gas cans which is what I wanted! We bough three 5 gallon gas cans at 12.50 each and some tiki torches. We asked about the generators…..they were 5000 watts and cost 649.00. The cashier said that last year, the same generator only cost 499.
I’ve heard of other price gouging. Gas went up 24 cents a gallon, and some were charging 6 bucks for a gallon of gas. Luckily, they have hotlines for that and FEMA and the authorities are cracking down and prosecuting those that do it!
DW and I headed 70 miles north again to that small town (Lewisburg) and bought gas (21 gallons - 82 bucks!) for all three tanks and my car. Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought candles, bread, and a battery powered radio.
There is a family a few miles up the road that are low income and were hit harder than us. We start cooking for them, take them candles, flashlights, batteries, ice, and drinks.
Sat, April 30
We hear rain is coming, so I go to Home Depot and buy 2x4s and tarps to build a tent for the generator. Turned out well.
Starting to get used to things. No power, but the generator and candles make it tolerable. We have a hot plate to warm water for bathing, but that is slow and a heavy load for the aging generator. So we head out and buy a propane tank at a store that just got a shipment in. The Turkey fryer has a 5 gallon pot, and can heat 5 gallons of water to boiling in 15-20 minutes. We are now taking very hot baths, and have hot water for washing dishes and clothes in the bathtub. We hang a line out back to dry the clothes.
I tried running the washer on the generator, but it simply couldn’t do it. Not enough power, so we resort to washing in the tub.
We’re now cooking on the grill, my little charcoal “hot plate” that I posted about before, and the turkey fryer. There is a Publix up the street on a generator that is selling food. So we go there daily. My generator can’t keep the fridge cooler that 50 degrees, and that is too warm, but the freezer is a solid 20 degrees. So, fridge food has to be thrown out.
We continued to visit the family up the road and cook for them. Our routine is now to listen to WDRM all day on the battery powered radio, cook for the family up the street, heat water for bathing and dishes, cook for ourselves, then watch a DVD. It’s not a bad way to camp out.
Sun, March 1
Same routine, wake up and start the generator. We turn it off every night, and back on in the morning. The freezer is insulated well enough to handle this. The generator has a 1/2 gallon tank, and runs 2 hours on a tank. So I refill it every two hours. The first of the 5 gallon tanks is empty, and we are now into the 2nd one.
We drive into town, and a Wal-Mart and Dollar store are open. We look for a radio for the family up the street, but no one has any. We buy more candles, batteries, canned goods, and some food to cook.
Come home, do the “laundry” and hang it out. Cook dinner for the family, and box up the supplies and go visit them. Come home, keep the generator tanked up, light the tiki torches, sit on the front porch and listen to the radio. Cook on the grill and turkey fryer, watch a DVD, go to bed.
Mon, March 2
More power is on in Huntsville, so we drive around. Lines at all the stores that are open, especially the Laundromats. We get a few more supplies and head home for the usual routine.
Tue, March 3
It’s raining! Climb into the homemade tent, gas the generator, and get her going. Keep her gassed every 2 hours. It’s cold, it’s raining, and it sucks, but Jennie (the generator) has to be fed!
Then……..power came on at 12:10PM!!!! Everything came up perfectly, even the internet. Unreal!! I can’t believe Mediacom came up perfectly!!! They ALWAYS have problem even on a good day!!
Now we’re cleaning things up, storing the generator, washing clothes properly, and finally took a real hot shower after 7 days!! We’ll went to town to restock the fridge and then check on the family up the street.
We were so very fortunate. We dodged a bullet, and were able to pull things together and live rather comfortably all things considered. Our pets are fine and weren’t hurt. Our house wasn’t hurt (other than a small leak in the roof). With a little work, we were able to cook hot meals, take hot baths, charge our cell phones, watch TV, DVDs, and listen to the radio. Little things that I’ve taken for granted for so long, but no more!
There are so many people in town and around me right now that don’t even have a house or clothes. DW and I are doing what we can to donate and help out.
God Bless everyone here at NCT for keeping all of us down here in your thoughts! Please continue to do so as the recovery is ongoing and will take quite a while longer.
I haven’t seen this kind of wide spread damage since I lived in Mobile and went through the Hurricanes. It’s mind-blowing that this kind of destruction could happen so quickly and out of the blue this far north of the coast.
Recovery
The big problem in Huntsville is we receive our power from the TVA Nuclear Reactor. All lines from that reactor were severed and had to be replaced. Convoys of utility crews have come in from as far away as Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mobile, and many other places.
They have been able to get most of the downed poles in town back up and string new lines. All trees have been moved off the road and the roads are open. TVA is slowly rebuilding their feed lines, and turning things on gradually to avoid overload. Huntsville is now at 70% power, but still has around 30,000 people without power.
Current news says TVA will be delivering more power for distribution through-out the night, and the goal is 95% restoration by tomorrow afternoon.
When this first happened, and all the TVA feeds were severed, they brought in lines form nearby hydro-electric plants first. The order of power restoration has been and will continue to be:
1. Hospitals, Medical Centers, and Emergency services
2. Water service plants, Nursing Homes, and Retirement Communities. Some places lost water, but luckily, we never did. The Nursing Homes and Retirement communities were being run on generators until full power was restored.
3. Certain commercial facilities to offer gas, food, and needed supplies including pharmacies. A big problem has been those with diabetes getting their supplies, and those that need oxygen. Without power, oxygen concentrators can’t work, and emergency supplies of tanks had to be brought in to those that need it.
4. Residential customers.
5. Industries.
Since industries like where I work use so much power, they will come up last meaning a lot of us won’t be going to work for quite a while. Gonna have to pull some serious over-time to get over this one!
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers everyone, you’re the best!
I am so glad you are OK. Mary was pretty worried about you as well as ALL of us. You may be a problem child at times but we LOVE you all the same and prayed for you and your DW!!
It is so wonderfull that you opened your heart to that family.
It is so wonderfull that you opened your heart to that family.
I'm so glad you are okay! We had a few areas here that were hit pretty bad. I heard on the news that they were declared Federal disaster areas making those out of work eligible for some sort of Federal unemployment. You may want to check into that. Every little bit helps.
Wow, what a POST, Keltin!!!
So glad you and yours are okay! Thanks for sharing all of your harrowing ordeal with us!!
Helping that poor family was wonderful - you and your wife have such good hearts!
I don't know if you're interested, but they posted on the BBQ Forum that the Whistlestop Festival WILL be held this coming weekend!
Welcome back!
Lee
So glad you and yours are okay! Thanks for sharing all of your harrowing ordeal with us!!
Helping that poor family was wonderful - you and your wife have such good hearts!
I don't know if you're interested, but they posted on the BBQ Forum that the Whistlestop Festival WILL be held this coming weekend!
Welcome back!
Lee
Glad you're ok as well! So relieved!! How did you manage? I know a lot of people I work with bugged out and went North to Motels.
It's been rough, but puts things in perspective. I tell you that!
Maybe so. After what I've seen this past week, and am still dealing with......let me tell you, there are bigger things in this world to deal with. God Bless you all, and remember to love one another and lend a hand when you can! Every bit of help DOES help! Be good to each other!
We did well. Used the grill alot and the neighbor had a generator that he let us tap into so we were able to hook up the fridge, a lamp and a radio. We went up to Columbia, TN for supplies and gasoline. We went down to Bham for showers and to do a little laundry at the in-laws.
I still can't wrap my mind around the devastation. It is in every direction. I mean, we see tornadoes all the time around here, but never anything like this. I signed up at First Baptist with the Red Cross today, heading out into the field on Thursday to try and do my part. We were so incredibly lucky.
Have you seen the footage of any of the actual tornadoes yet? Unbelievable!!!
Last edited:
JackieBlue
Banned
So glad to hear you're ok Keltin. My continued thoughts and prayers for you and your family and everyone else that has been affected by this.
