Just about everything between central Texas to Maine has been effected by severe winter weather over the past 48-hours and system seems to not be letting up as it continues to bring sleet, snow and heavy ice to the Ozark and Ohio Valley regions.

Its difficult to compare different types of nature disasters, however it is fairly safe to say that this winter weather event has impacted as many people as Hurricane Katrina did along the Gulf Coast in 2005. The death toll however is of course significantly lower with so far a reported 20 deaths being blamed on the ice storm.

Heavy ice has pulled down large trees and electrical grids across the region, knocking out power to over 100,000 homes in the United States so far. Power workers are also stretched thin due to a failing economy and according to a power company spokesman in Arkansas they are “nearly about to go over the edge.” I’m not really sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound promising.

Emergency managment crews are also scrabbling to deal with the extreme winter weather by opening shelters and trying to get those who depend on electricity for life saving appliances into those shelters as the temperatures continue to linger in the teens and lower 20s. Oklahoma’s Govenor has declared a State of Emergency for all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties!

The ice event has created chaos on roads and highways across the nation keeping police and emergency crews busy. Without a doubt this is going to be a major hit to the insurance industry as well and with so many industries failing in the current economy, it will be interesting to see how the new power players in Washington deal with the crisis.

Television crews are also out and about covering the event as best as possible. And while they are always at a risk when working in icy weather, perhaps their biggest risk to their vehicles comes when parked at their television stations. Paul sent me this picture from his Blackberry earlier today – and if you think it’s funny (it is), think about what a soft golf ball sized hailstone can do to a car – then just try to imagine what a huge chunk of solid ice will do once it falls away from a television tower – yikes!

The best advice is that if you don’t have anywhere to go – don’t go, stay home. Of course, if you do venture out just remember that you can’t always see ice on a road and always use discretion where you park!!!

Tags: ice storm, winter storm, winter weather