Leaving town a few days ago as everyone was dashing about to prepare for the big winter storm, I had this weird recollection of that “MASH” episode on CBS when the surgeons and nurses were frantically tearing down their mobile hospital in Korea. They were “bugging out” for safer territory.
So late Friday morning I was also “bugging out,” but not necessarily for a kinder climate. I had promised my daughter I would drive to Lexington and spend time with my grandchildren while she and her husband took a mini-vacation to a beach.
This storm has covered the entire state of Kentucky. At the moment I’m just seeing it from a different vantage in Lexington.
My timing wasn’t great. While my husband stayed home to man the gas log fireplace in the event of a long power failure, I hit the road. But not before I enlisted the help of a few weather observers I could lean on for some remote reporting.
One of those observers is Yvette Smithson Holmes, whose home near Bennettstown in South Christian County is surrounded by farmland and woods. I knew she would have a picturesque spot to share in a photo — and as you can see, she did not disappoint.
When I called Yvette this morning to find out how things were going, I got to my main concern right away.
I asked, “Has the power gone out at your place?”
There was a pause, then a little laughter.
“I’m afraid to answer that,” she said.
I knew what she meant. There had not been any outages in her part of the county, but she sure didn’t want to conjure up anything.
We were both thinking about the ice storm of 2009, which then-Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear described as the state’s worst natural disaster of modern times.
Yvette recalled going without electric power for five days and without well water for eight days. She hung blankets around the stairs to keep the heat downstairs. The family had to drive into town to wash laundry and get a hot meal.
But she also has a good memory from the 2009 ice storm — how gorgeous the night sky was without light contamination.
“It looked like a dark velvet blanket with diamonds,” she said.
Here’s hoping everyone in Hopkinsville and Christian County will be spared anything like our past ice storms.
Meanwhile, it looks like a good time to wait a few days for warmer temperatures and safe roads.
You can read our coverage of the latest conditions here. And check our list of closings and cancellations here.
Stay safe and warm, everyone.
If you or someone you know needs a warm place during this time, here are a few options:
The Hopkinsville Salvation Army will provide emergency shelter to anyone needing a warm place overnight. The Extreme Weather Event Shelter — also known as EWE, will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. at 701 S. Clay St. The EWE shelter is open any night when the temperature or wind chill is forecast to be less than 25 degrees.
The First Baptist Church Christian Life Center, 1603 S. Main St., will be open as a warming station from 4 p.m. Saturday until noon Monday, the church announced in a Facebook post.
Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park is among several state park facilities currently open 24-hours a day as a warming center.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
