This is how the National Weather Service described the Ice Storm of 1997:
“ …From Detroit and Ann Arbor south to the state-line, the freezing rain changed to rain, but not before heavy ice accumulations occurred. Total precipitation amounts ranged from 1.5 to nearly 2.5 inches from Detroit and Ann Arbor south to the Ohio state-line. … In the Detroit Metropolitan area, the ice storm resulted in power outages to over 425,000 homes and businesses; the 3rd largest outage in history, and the worst ever for an ice storm. Several thousand residents were without power for as long as 4 days. In addition to powerlines, falling trees damaged dozens of cars and houses throughout the area. Most were closed, and there were numerous auto accidents.”
Here is how I remember it…
It began last Thursday night [3/13/1997] with hard rain falling into below freezing temperatures at ground level. By morning we had had 1.6 inches of rain with a 1/2 inch coating of ice on every tree limb, pine needle, and blade of grass in Southeastern Michigan. It was the worst ice storm since records have been kept here for more than 100 years.
The roads had icy patches, but the main problem was trees and tree limbs that toppled onto roadways and power lines, confounding morning commuters and cutting power to some 12,000 homes. Needless to say, schools were closed. Later, something like 425,000 homes and businesses would be affected.
Our lights were dim all morning and the microwave did not work right.
Late in the morning, the temperature dropped and a wind started to blow, knocking out more power lines all day. Our power went out completely a little after noon.
At our house, when the electricity goes, so does the heat and running water. We set up camp in the evening by the fireplace and John got our small gas-powered generator out to run the sump pump, refrigerator, and food processor. We had McDonald’s stuff for dinner and I studied for my midterms by oil lamplight.
[The boys, Danny and Ian, needed their food ground to a consistency where they would not choke on it - swallowing problems often accompany severe cerebral palsy - hence the importance of powering up the food processor. And for those of you who do not have a well and septic system for water and sewage, the sump collects clean water that would otherwise flood the basement. The sump pump pumps it outside where it drains off with the rest of the rain water. If the sump pump stops working, the basement floods. The one benefit of this is that we had plenty of water to flush toilets that we hauled up from the basement sump in buckets.]
It was 16 degrees outside Saturday morning and about 40 degrees in the house. I really flubbed my midterm, partly from not studying and partly because I was suffering from borderline hypothermia.
The rest of Saturday was cold and miserable. We had a constant fire and heated water in old camping pots.
We ate McDonald’s stuff again and snuggled and huddled around the fire singing songs. Jennie [who was ten years old] sang songs I have not heard her sing for some time. And of course we compared our lives to that of the Little House on the Prairie family. [Read “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingals Wilder to get the feel for wind and snow drifting through cracks in the house and the long trek to bring wheat into the starving town that had been cut off from its food supply by the relentless winter storms.]
The most exhausting part of the whole ordeal was being cold much of the time. I’m sure the pioneers could eat so much because they burned up so many calories trying to stay warm. And of course there were the chores we had to do to survive - stoking the wood pile, feeding the fire, washing dishes in heated water, lugging up buckets of water from the sump to flush the toilets, and keeping Danny and Ian warm.
[I don’t remember precisely, how we kept Danny and Ian fed, bathed, and warm, other than it was superimposed on the added chores of running a house without electricity. I do remember that they were somewhat excited and stimulated by living in front of the fireplace most of the day and going to bed with blankets and sleeping bags mounded on top of them.]
The temperature Sunday morning was 10 degrees. It really did not get above freezing until Monday, when it went into the 50’s. Jennie's school was still closed Monday, but Danny and Ian’s school was open. Jennie and I hung out at the mall and the library. We had a very good breakfast at Big Boy.
When we came home for short intervals, the smell of woodsmoke was overpowering and the chill disheartening. Just when it seemed that we might have to spend another night without electricity, the lights went on and transformed us back into our civilized selves.
It’s appalling how almost worthless our house is without electric power. And we are so wasteful, but so happy to be among the lighted.
[Unlike the weather event in Texas, Ann Arbor was not totally shut down and many families decamped to motels for the duration. This was not an option for us - imagine a family of five with two big wheelchairs, a dog, and two cats holed up in a motel room for four days. We couldn't imagine it either.]
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