From Jan. 3 – 7, much of North America (from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast) was devastated by a sweeping winter storm — named Storm Blair — that stretched across many regions of the continent, originating from a polar vortex in the arctic. Precipitation fell and froze in the low temperatures, causing ice to encase not only power lines and cars, but vegetation.
As tree limbs and power lines were weighted down by the ice, many fell, causing widespread damage and power outages. While this was general across the southern Illinois region, Williamson County was heavily struck. In a Jan. 6 article published by WPSD Local 6 News, journalist Kat Byars relays a report from Dale Fowler (State Senator from Harrisburg), in which the Senator outlined statistics of outages from 15 counties. That report (published 9:30 a.m., Jan. 6), reported that Williamson bore the most outages, with 8,275.
With these widespread outages, roads obstructed by fallen limbs and safe travel inhibited by ice, the Herrin School District was forced to enact four e-learning days (which 52.9% of student interviewees prefer to the regular snow days), extending the date students would have returned to school following winter break, from Jan. 7 to Jan. 13.
(Photography, Tiger Journalist)
Throughout this time, students were forced to occupy themselves with their electronic assignments, while some battled the threats of cold following power outages. 67.5% of interviewed students reported power outages and loss of Wi-Fi, while 7.8% reported “distressing cold” in their houses. 21.8% of these students had to evacuate their homes.
Students shared their experiences with the outages: “We lost power for three whole days, had to go to work to charge devices and we used my fireplace to cook hotdogs and other food.”
Other students were fortunate enough to have their own supplies, as one responded: “It wasn’t cold, because we had propane heaters and lots of blankets. It just felt like a normal day.”
While such supplies are crucial in times as this, it’s more helpful to be prepared before. “It was a total pain. The first night, it kicked our power very badly. It was out for roughly 40 hours. It got cold enough in our home that we went to Holiday Inn for the second night. We had to break the bank to buy a generator. As our luck goes, the very minute we got the generator hooked up, the power came back.”
To pass this time, students mostly slept and read, while worrying about possible damage from trees or food spoiling because of the power outages. Yet, the people of Herrin were not alone at this time. Local businesses like Sergio’s and A Kiss Good-Buy Consignment offered shelter and/or food, which was taken up by many, especially workers who were, at that time, working in the cold to restore power, or those without power. In a Jan. 6 Facebook post, Sergio Mendez announced that anybody with “no electricity, no way to cook” was welcome into his restaurant for a meal. He repeatedly named his restaurant and gave its address as well as his phone number for ease of accessibility.
A Jan. 7 post on the Kiss Good-Buy Facebook page read: “If anyone needs a place to warm up, charge a phone and just relax, I am here at the shop.”
Alongside them, the local McDonald’s and the Herrin Civic Center stayed open for people in need of a warm refuge.
Closer to home, many students reported neighbors offering assistance:
“My neighbor had a at home generator, and she let my neighbor, and their newborn baby stay with them until the power came back on.”
Another said: “We had half a tree fall on our driveway, so my dad dragged it out of the way. He was going to cut it up with is chainsaw when he couldn’t get it to start, so a neighbor asked if we needed it cut up. Before you know it, he had it cut, and all we had to do was drag the branches out of the driveway.”
Though conditions improved enough to enable school to resume on Jan. 13, limbs are still fallen across Herrin and the community is still shaken by what many are beginning to call a historic winter storm. Temperatures rose on Jan. 17 enough to begin the ice’s melting, but one cannot deny the fact that this storm is threatening as a possible prelude to a challenging winter.
