Portland, Maine
Friday, February 20, 1998
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story and photos by Anthony Citrano III
The day before, I'd heard the sensationalism on the tube, but I'd grown numb to it. I'd heard the term "worst storm of the decade" a few too many times to believe it.
When I woke up the morning after it all stopped, it was absolutely surreal. I had honestly, in my twenty eight years of being a New England kid, never seen anything like it. The trees, even the seemingly giant and indestructible ones, were falling on power lines and roofs and cars. I made my way to my in-laws' place to make sure they were all right. A tree had come down on their garage roof, and they were without power, but they were fine. The enormous pine tree that sits in their driveway was shredded like spaghetti. Three inches of ice (yes, three inches) covered everything. It was absolutely unbelievable.
As I walked around, I had to be careful because trees and large limbs were constantly popping and falling to the ground. Every few seconds you could hear a crash - another tree was falling. I had a couple close calls, but was lucky not to be hit (although I fell a lot).
That evening, I decided to make a small journey to see what the rest of the area looked like. While driving up Route 201 in Gardiner, I came across a Road Closed sign but decided to chance it. I drove around the barrier and explored. At one point, I had to turn my car radio off, so the antenna would retract, so I could fit under a downed power line. At that moment, I was hoping that everything I'd learned in science class about the electricity "cage effect" was true. That's when I took most of these photographs - the snapped telephone poles and twisted trees in the images are neat, but still don't convey the sense of natural power the Earth flexed on us those few days.
More ice followed, many more nights without power, but eventually and slowly things returned to normal. Neighbors helping neighbors reminded us what community was all about.
And the storm reminded me that once in a while, Mother Nature needs to put us in our place.
Anthony Citrano III is a writer, technologist, commentator, and consultant in the high-technology industry. E-mail him or checkout his web site.
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