Ice Storm Keeps Rindge, New Hampshire Residents at Home

Rindge, NH: The icy rain started early and hasn't let up in over 24 hours. Residents of Rindge, New Hampshire, and surrounding communities are house bound because of slippery roads and fallen tree limbs. Fortunately, many of the people living in this small New England town are prepared for just such an adventure.

Wood stoves and generators are common place here in Rindge, New Hampshire. In fact, the neighboring town - Jaffrey- is home to New England Wood Pellet where the energy efficient wood pellets are manufactured. People in this area have done their homework - generators power the pellet stoves or cord wood powers the older fashioned wood stoves.

Not everyone has a backup plan to keep their pipes from freezing in a power outage. When an ice storm like this hits, and the power lines are down, pipes can burst. Whether or not the homeowner has insurance, the mess and inconvenience of frozen pipes is disheartening. Water damage and cold temperatures can make a family very uncomfortable while they wait out the storm and repairs.

Generators are used by homeowners to keep their house warm enough to prevent damage from bursting pipes. But also, the lucky ones with generators are kept comfortable with electric conveniences like television and radios. Furthermore, you might not realize it but when the power goes out so does the plumbing. Again, those folks with power generators have access to their plumbing and even hot water.

When a storm like this hits New England, residents expect clean up. That means when the storm does pass, people are out in their yards and streets picking up branches, limbs, and sticks that were thrown down during the ice storm. The ice, layered upon the branches, is beyond beautiful when it bends and stretches full grown tree limbs to the ground. Often the limbs snap, creating a nest of broken branches and sticks that need to be picked up and piled away.