As I travelled south to be with family for a most enjoyable Christmas, I couldn't believe the damage done by the ice storm. Even just a few kilometers away it looked like a tornado or hurricane had ripped through the area. Sadly, countless trees were either down or shattered by the weight of the ice. The giant weeping willows seemed to suffer the worst; their soft and tender wood no match for the frigid mantle. Tree after tree had tangled branches and massive limbs piled in a heap at the bottom of their broken and naked trunks. It wasn't just the willows, ancient maples and towering elm suffered much damage as well. Many will not survive because their trunks, their life giving hearts, were split and shattered as they collapsed under the ice.
It was a stunning drive though: glistening silver, soft gray and crisp white as far as the eye could see. I found it hard to keep my eyes on the road because even street signs and traffic signals wore gleaming, whiskery icicles. Mundane things like wire fences and mailboxes became objects of art and beauty.
It's going to take a long time to get everything cleared up, months even. Many of the sidewalks along the city roads of my route were impassible due to fallen trees and limbs. Like the willows, they lay in a tangled heap that will be difficult to clear away safely. Not surprisingly I believe there are a good number of people who are still without power and may be for a while yet. Things are a mess.
Hopefully, and I pray, it will warm up enough to melt everything on the trees before there is any kind of major snowfall. That would only pull more trees and power lines down.
Like the ice storm of 1998, this is a weather event for the history books.
Lord, encourage those who face the monumental task of clearing the damage. Keep them safe. In Jesus' name. Amen.
"Man goes out to his work and to his labour until the evening." Ps 104:23
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