We woke to heavy snow, which hadn't been forecast, so was a great surprise. But Ruby and my younger son, who was staying with us for the weekend, were delighted. Alexander is 28 now, but still gets as excited by snow as he did when he was 8.
Shortly before nine o'clock there was a sudden power surge, and all the lights flared brightly. Then a few seconds later we started to hear pops and bangs around the house and various televisions and other things went bang, with sparks and smoke. It turned out that a power cable had come down and the power company advised us that we should turn off the mains fuse.
We breakfasted on bread and butter and marmalade, instead of the cooked breakfast I had planned. Luckily we were able to boil the kettle up in our camper van and have hot drinks.
We soon discovered that it was a live cable that had fallen. We realised that it was live because one end was in a puddle and a friend and her dog walked past, the dog went into the puddle and jumped a foot in the air! Luckily the dog was unharmed, though rather surprised ( I nearly wrote 'shocked' there, but that seemed to be a rather bad pun!). After hearing this the power company vehicles soon arrived. Apparently the freak snow storm had caused chaos in the area and many problems with electricity supplies.
Fortunately, we had booked a table for lunch in a nearby restaurant, so didn't have to have more bread and butter for lunch.
The power wasn't put back on until about half past four, but when we started switching things on we still had major problems, so had to cut the electricity again until the problems were sorted out. We finally had power again at about six o'clock, so didn't have to resort to candles for long.
But the damage the power surge caused was amazing. We've lost two televisions, two DAB radios, the microwave, Christopher's beloved coffee machine as well as countless cables and light bulbs. The loss adjuster is coming today to see the list.
So, a very dramatic Sunday.
13 comments:
hope all resolves soon... keep safe and warm xx
How very unpleasant for you. Hope the loss adjuster is prompt and efficient so that you can start to replace all the things that have been damaged.
wow, sounds like quite a day. You might want to look into surge protectors. I'm not sure what they would cost there, but here in the States they are pretty reasonable. I keep the computer and tv on them all the time. I also have a tendency to unplug any appliances I'm not using - it's an old Yankee trick after too many years of going through what you did Sunday. Hope you can get everything straightened out.
So sorry to hear about all the electricity problems! I'm glad no one was hurt, though. We haven't had our first snow of the season yet here, but the mountains near us have had snow on the top for over a week now.
Oh Amanda what bad luck. I did not realise just how bad the weather was there -it is sunny here in NZ and I forgot to check it out.
OMG! So glad you all are alright. Yes, those power surfers can be very damaging. My mom found out the hard way. Hope all goes well with the adjusters.
BTW, that snow photo is beautiful.
Oh my that is frightening. I've heard of that happening, and you're lucky it didn't do damage to the structure of your house or that any one was hurt (including the neighbor's dog)
I love that picture, such a happy shot, it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.
My goodness! A lesson for all of us. DH and I keep talking about a whole house surge suppressor. I guess we should actually do it!
Oh my, it does sound like a bit too much excitement! Glad the poor pup was unharmed.
Good grief! I had no idea a power surge could cause that much trouble. I guess I really will pull all the plugs when we go on vacation anywhere.
That was quite a day. Too bad about your damaged appliances, but it is a reminder about how much we depend on power. Glad all ended well.
Oh no, it could have been worse, but was certainly bad enough. I hope that the insurance covers everything and you come out better than before, with new things. We have little portable surge protectors, plus the electric company put some kind of surge protector in the outside box, but we live in the "lightning capitol of the world (Central Florida)" and it is still no guarantee. Glad that you all and the neighbors dog are all ok.
My first thought was if your sewing machine was ok...better check on that because if it's gone you need to replace it with something fabulous like a Janome Horizon ;o)
Seriously though...who knew all that could be lost to a surge...rather scary really. Glad everyone is safe and sound...
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