Commentary by Larry Lannan
Big snowfall totals and subzero temperatures are more than an inconvenience; they can endanger your health. January 6 and 7 tested some Fishers residents, including my family.
With the wind howling and deep snow everywhere, the biggest fear is losing your electricity. We lost ours on the evening of January 6. After calling the Duke Energy phone line, we learned that the projected time for restoring power was about 11:00 p.m.
We had to decide whether to stay home and ride it out or find somewhere else to stay. We opted to visit a friend who still had power.
We were thankful for the job the Town of Fishers did clearing the roads. They weren’t perfect, but were as good as we could have expected under the weather conditions. We made it to our friend’s home safely.
A little more than an hour later, I checked Duke Energy’ phone line again and discovered our power had already been restored. We made it back home, very thankful we had electricity back so quickly.
Many other Fishers families were not as fortunate. Many went without power for many more hours.
Several organizations and people within them were key to getting Fishers through the rough weather. The first ones to recognize are the Duke Energy employees tasked with working under intolerable conditions in the freezing cold and continuing their work to bring electricity back to homes without it.
There were the crews working the streets for the Town of Fishers. Keeping the roads as clear as possible under the weather conditions enabled Duke’s workers to move around and fix the problems. They also kept the roads clear enough for my family to seek shelter with a friend once our power was gone.
The Red Cross was instrumental in opening warming shelters in Fishers and Noblesville during the crisis. Several government agencies helped the Red Cross ensure that those who had lost power were not put into a dangerous situation.
I was a news reporter during the blizzard of 1978. The 2014 storm wasn’t quite as bad as that one, but it was very close. I believe we are better prepared for such storms now than we were in 1978.
A group of people is tasked with helping when severe winter weather hits our area. My thanks go out to all of them.