On January 22, St. Simons Island was hit by an ice and snow storm. Most of the country has been in the deep freeze, including the south. Temperatures all month have been the coldest we have ever experienced in our eight seasons on the island. I know it has been super cold in Ohio as well as in other parts of the country. I’m not complaining – it is still warmer than up north. But we have had more nights below freezing than all our previous years in Georgia combined.
January 21 was the first night we had rain with the below freezing temperatures. It rained from 9 until 3 a.m. when it turned into sleet, followed by a brief period of snow. The power turned off and on four times during the night, which meant that I was awake most of the night wondering if the power would stay on. About 5 a.m. I started to hear limbs cracking and falling. Although our RV is in the open, two of the RVs in our Volunteer Village are under large trees. During my times of wakefulness, I prayed for the safety of everyone in the park.
I tried to sleep in the next morning, but people know I am an early riser, so I started getting texts at 6:30 asking if we were all right. Most of the island was without power and remained that way the whole day. Our friends who live on the island had graciously offered us shelter the night before, so I returned the favor. The power staying on made our lives much easier.
Tom and I walked around in the clearings a little. We couldn’t leave the park because there was a limb across the entrance/exit. Tree limbs had fallen just feet away from Ed and Debbie’s RV. There were limbs down in the living history area, across all the trails, and in front of the Visitors Center. We ended up being closed for three days.
Site Supervisor Margot, who just started January 15, told all the RVers to stay in our RVs until she and safety officer Chad had a chance to do an assessment. None of us were very good at doing that, so she finally told us we would have lunch and an assessment meeting together in headquarters.
This is what RV volunteers do when we have a snow day (or ice day) off from work. First, we try to help clean up. All of us were a little frustrated that we weren’t at least allowed to collect fallen branches and clear debris. But it really wasn’t safe walking under the big trees. We heard and watched big limbs fall all afternoon until the sun finally came out and started melting the ice.
Second, we find ways to amuse ourselves. A group of us took a walk outside the park grounds to survey the damage and stretch our legs. Tom and Kathy made a mini-snowman. We took lots of pictures of things covered by ice. We gathered together at 3 p.m. for a lively game of Farkle in the Administration Building. Power was off all over the island, but it stayed on in the park so we were warm and could use our appliances.
Third, we jump on any opportunity to do something. Around 4 p.m. Ranger Margot decided that it might be better to clear away enough of the limb blocking the entrance/exit to our section of the park that we could get in and out. She framed it as a safety issue – what if we had an emergency? Tom and Marty headed out to look at it and were quickly joined by Bob. Within minutes they had cut away enough of the limb that we could use the gate again. Don came over shortly afterward to find out why he heard power tools being used and wasn’t invited.
The incident epitomized for me what it is like to be an RV volunteer. None of us is very good at sitting still and we all want to be helpful.
The ice and snow are beautiful – but dangerous. Because the island doesn’t have any snow removal equipment, everything was shut down until the ice and snow melted. Saturday most of the ice was gone and we just had the clean-up to do.
