The Blizzard of '26 - Priya's Story

On the morning of the blizzard I woke up in the chill. I didn't expect a power outage, it completely shocked me. Because I have been living in Rhode Island for the last 10 years I haven't seen a blizzard or a power outage before. So I didn’t plan ahead. It surprised me that I had three challenges:

Food
Heat
Boredom!

I had a guest at home who came from North Carolina. I served fruits and nuts for breakfast and I had thermals at home that helped keep my body warm.

Entertaining the kids was a big chellange for me. They played a word game that means if they draw the picture we would find the word by seeing the picture. We played the game until 1:30 pm. By that time the wind was heavy. My windows were covered with snow. I couldn't see anything from inside and we heard a heavy wind blowing. The sound was a little scary.

That day the kids learned the value of food. They literally wanted hot food. My husband tried to go outside. It was impossible to walk so we skipped the idea of going out. We waited for the wind to die down. The kids played in the snow and cleared the snow from the car. It was a big task to dig out the snow. The daytime was better because we had natural light.

Another big challenge was it was tough when it got darker. I had so many experiences without power in my country, but for the kids it was their first time. Fortunately, I had candles and lighters. We survived and got our power back. That was a big relief.

Finally, my day started with frustration and ended with relaxation. It was an experience for me to prepare for future storms.

~~~

Priya - India