700 Telephone Poles Down

This was the blizzard that made me very afraid of blizzards. My sons were eight, seven, five, and three. I was teaching at a private school an hour drive from my house. My husband didn’t have a job. Only my seven-year-old went to the school, a school for advanced students. He wasn’t there that day for some reason though. I can’t remember why. They let us leave work early, but I almost didn’t make it home though. It went from barely any snow to blizzard very quickly. When I got close to my house, I almost went off the road. The roads were terribly slick and it was very difficult driving in it. I was so thankful I made it home.

I remember that the weather report said we were going to get snow, but there was no blizzard warning. It just hit suddenly. My husband usually got plenty of wood, but this time we weren’t prepared at all.

The telephone pole wires were quickly getting covered in ice. I couldn’t believe how thick they were with ice. I’d never seen anything like it. The trees were covered in ice as well. The temperature was dropping quickly. It went below zero very fast with wind chills of -20.

My husband was outside splitting wood in the blizzard with ice and snow constantly hitting him. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how he did it. He didn't even say a word, just took care of us. He'd cut more trees down from the tree line, pull the cut pieces with a sled, split them near the house, him and I would reload them in the sled, and then the little ones, my mom, and I would bring them in as quickly as we could.

The electricity went out, but we had a wood stove in the living room. We blocked off the living room with blankets. The wood stove wood only kept that room warm without it’s fan going and with the temperature being so low. We kept turns staying up keeping the fire going all the time. Everyone had to sleep in the living room to keep warm. My four children, our pets, my mom, my husband, and I. The rest of the house was way too cold. Food in the house was freezing.

Our water pump ran on electricity, so we had no water. At first, we used what water, tea, and juice we had. But, we were snowed in for a week. My mom started bringing in snow and melting it for water. At first, I was hesitant because I worried pollution could be in the snow. But, there was no water, so that’s what we had to do. We baked in the wood stove. The stove we had at the time was too hard to cook on top of. It wasn’t shaped right for that.

There was no way to get any vehicles out to the main road. The highway near our house hadn’t even been cleared.

Our phone only worked with electricity. We had no phone. We did have the weather radio my dad sent that you could wind up though. He also had sent us flash lights that you could just wind up to make them work.

By the time someone brought water out to where we lived in the country, my three-year-old and I were sick. We were the only ones who got sick.

It was two weeks before the electricity came back on at our house in the country. I was told there were 700 telephone poles down. The National Guard had to come help. I found out everyone in town had to stay together at the school due to their being no electricity for some time there, too. That was the only place there was electricity. That was while we were still snowed in. By the time we were able to get out, the people in town had electricity again. Many people in the country, including us, still did not.

A friend let us stay at her house. My three-year-old and I got well there. We left out plenty of food for our pets. Then the tribal casino’s hotel let us stay there along with other families who still didn’t have electricity. I remember driving to work from the hotel the following week. We were really thankful we could stay there, even though I hate gambling and wish the casino didn’t exist. I wish the tribe would/could make a lot of money other ways.

I found out afterwards that there were so many people who were trapped in their vehicles on the sides of roads in the storm and that some had died. I remembered how I almost went off of the road as well and realized I could’ve been in that same situation.

I saw the National Guard helping the electric company put up poles. I remember seeing people from the National guard in our area long after the storm.

Here are some news clip about this storm:

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/top-stories/blizzard-cuts-power-to-more-than/article_d6e28ebc-0361-54cf-8b82-7b2532927730.html

http://www.lakotacountrytimes.com/news/2008-11-13/front_page/001.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blizzard-blankets-south-dakota/

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=85319

https://www.weather.gov/abr/This_Day_in_Weather_History_Nov_06