I guess I saw this one coming – Kentucky is one of the hardest hit areas by the recent ice storm that swept over more than a dozen states and took out power to millions of homes across the country.

There are still nearly 500,000 homes without power and emergency crews are working at all ends to try and restore power to some of the state’s towns. Several towns in Western Kentucky have even experienced frozen water pipes cutting off fresh water into those areas.

Kentucky is in trouble! Local emergency management agencies, typically at the county level that are staffed by volunteers are angry that State and Federal Emergency Management isn’t doing enough to help them.

Emegency Management Director Randell Smith of Grayson County said that the State sent him 25 national guardsmen to assist his county – but when they arrived they had no gear of anykind – not even a single chainsaw to help clear roads from fallen trees!

What kind of a joke is this? These people were hit by a major ice storm and as a person that has been through about every type of severe weather imaginable – I’ll say that ice storms are the least fun to deal with because they don’t just go away, it can take days or weeks to clear up and the damage they leave behind will last for years. Not too mention the cold frigid temperatures that linger around for days on end. Being stuck in a home without water, or electricity while your roof is about to give in due to the weight of the ice and snow isn’t fun – it’s horrible.

In 2005 the public heavily critized Washington, FEMA and President Bush for not responding to Hurricane Katrina quickly enough. Now we have a situation in Kentucky where hundreds of thousands of people are at risk due to the weather and I’m not even sure if anyone has told the foks in Washington that a major ice storm happened.

According to President Obama he was disappointed because his daughter’s schools were closed, as he stated – “For What? A little ice?”

Yep – for a little ice sir!

Every single local emergency manager in Kentucky has requested their areas to be declared disaster areas. And, to my best knowledge the State has granted those request. That clears the way for Federal Aid to come through and get help to these (frozen) people – now Washington needs to quit bickering over improved infrastructure and go help the folks in Kentucky out! And, they need to do it yesterday!

Tags: ice storm, winter weather