Main street in Aiken. Photo via Kate Samuels.
More than 50,000 Aiken County residents are without power today following yesterday’s ice storm, the Aiken Standard reports. Kate Samuels sent me this video of her drive to the barn this morning. As you’ll see, the roads have been transformed into icy death traps. Also note the abandoned golf cart and broken windshield wiper. It’s a war zone down south.
Trees and power lines are down everywhere. Here’s another video of Will Coleman and Katie Thornton driving through a very icy Aiken. And, yes, they do actually drive over that downed power line. Please note the EN chinchillas do not advise driving over downed power lines.
Update 12:30 p.m. EST: The Aiken Gala to raise funds for the U.S. eventing team has now been postponed due to the icy road conditions.
Update 1:48 p.m. EST: An eye-witness report from Kate Samuels: “Only Cracker Barrel is open today for food, and there is a 1.5-hour wait for a table. And you can’t get into a gas station because everybody is totally panicking. It’s like The Walking Dead: Winter Edition. Everything is closed. People are simply walking down the middle of the street, and nobody is obeying traffic laws.“
More photos from Aiken:
Will Coleman scrapes the windshield of his car with a cookie sheet. Photo via Katie Thornton.
On the hunt for water… pic.twitter.com/OkreBzfSnP
— Doug Payne (@dpequestrian) February 13, 2014
