Bourbon County Dodged the Bullet

A house in Pittsburg was struck by a giant tree limb after a severe ice storm that hit the area last weekend caused many trees to fall, several of which also blocked streets. The storm also caused many power outages and downed power lines in the area.

Bourbon County was lucky this week. The storm that fell on Pittsburg and basically rendered many people and organizations useless the first part of this week was absolutely horrid. Fort Scott may have had a few problems due to the ice, mainly school closings, but residents were lucky for the most part.

First off, I'm a resident of Crawford County. I live a few miles east of Farlington near Bone Creek Lake. Wife and I were at a Christmas party until about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. As we drove home from Pittsburg the roads progressively worsened. That next morning when we arose (sounds like a certain Christmas story..) the ground was covered in ice. We turned on the vehicles and ran them for about half an hour to rid them of the inch of ice on the windows just in case the electricity went out and we had to leave. Of course I was the lucky one trudging back and forth from the house to the cars with the scraper...all while my lovely bride asked me how things were going and then told me how to do them all at the same time.

Anyway, the scenery in the country where I reside was absolutely beautiful. Everything, of course, was covered in ice. The fences...the noodles I threw out in the field the night before...

On Monday I went to Pittsburg late in the afternoon to run an errand. While there I shot a few features for the KC Star after a photo editor called and said that what they were hearing about Pittsburg was horrible. I was amazed at everything. Trees blocking streets. Power poles in yards. Power lines draped across roads. It was amazing. But 25 miles away there wasn't a problem at all. Fort Scott could have been devastated just like Pittsburg but somehow was bypassed.

The above photo is of a house that was struck by the giant tree limb only moments before I arrived. Things were so bad that an on-duty policeman had somewhat abandoned his regular duties to help clean up his yard. He asked to remain nameless.