This week marks the 10th anniversary of the great ice storm of 2008. A request on the Milford Residents’ Group Facebook page brought forth a flood of comments about the storm and its aftermath:

“The only time I can remember my company closing.”

Cheryl Taylor

“My sister and I sat in my car looking for a place to spend the night. She slept on my friends couch. I slept in my car because the floor was too cold. Brought as many blankets as we had on our beds. Slept great!”

Lorissa Michelle Hastings

“Using highlights to make way through house and kerosene lamps to cook by and evening activity. About two weeks of using buckets of melted snow to flush toilet and cook with. Think coffee!! And then coming home to see New Brunswick electric trucks on our narrow dirt road. Someone said to park down road and escorted me to house. They were from Canada and said they appreciated overtime. They were sleeping on cots at my and friends took down beer for them.”

Sue Wheeler Carita

“We lost power for an hour. Felt really badly for everyone around us and continuously offered the use of our showers, laundry and heat!!!”

Jennifer Nickerson

“I don’t call them memories…it was a nightmare.”

Christine Timmins Poulter

“Crying after about five days and no heat.”

Carol Marcely

“Spinning out on the highway! My heart goes to my throat just thinking about it!”

Darlene King

My daughter… born Sept 2009.

Kelly Case Iannuzzo

“I remember going to bed that night and listening to trees and tree limbs snapping when we lived on Crestwood Lane. Woke up to no power. Stayed a couple of nights in the house with fireplace going. Then we were lucky enough to go to our son-in-law’s parents’ house in Amherst, and then his Uncle and Aunt’s house in Milford until our power came back eight days later.”

Lois Martin

“Cooking chicken in a pan on the wood stove. And going into work on day four of no school and Brad Craven bear hugging me!”

Jennifer Kennedy Erdody

“I remember driving down Route 2 in Massachusetts to check on the home of a friend staying with us, as we have a huge wood stove and a generator (and antennas for the TV) The ice sculptures created by the trees bent over lining both sides of the highway. It was epic.”

Susan Cormier

“I was living in Fitchburg and lost power for nine days. Hearing the trees snapping and cracking all night is something I will never forget. It was a true test of our ability to make the best of a bad situation. I feel terribly for the people in the greater Lawrence area going through months of no powder or gas. I can’t even imagine what they are going through.”

Janice Nurmi

“I lived in Greenfield at the time. We lost power for 14 days, and still couldn’t move back in because a bunch of pipes had burst. I remember my dad taking pictures of the thermostat at under 15 degrees, and of the frozen toilet water ?? and I remember quite a long ‘winter break’ from school.”

Maggie Picott

“I am also on the same power line as the (Wilton) Fire Department. I had to close Tumbleweeds for only one day. We were very fortunate for that. The parents were thrilled to be able to bring their children in where they could be warm.”

Celeste Oberg

“No power for two weeks. My boys were 1 and 3 wearing snowsuits in the house. Ordering a generator online only to have the delivery men drop it taking it off the truck. All my house plants and fish died.”

Jessica Cote

“I swear I have PTSD from that storm! We ended up taking down all the trees in our yard before the next winter as I was very upset it could take out the house the next time! While power was out for only a few days, with no generator I ended up with 6” of water in the basement and all while my spouse was in the hospital. Alone. Dark. Not good memories.”

Dana Dahl

“We moved to Mason and our wood pile was completely hidden under inches of ice. No power and no wood for wood stove. People were selling a cord for 695.”

Samantha Hartnett

“I lived in Greenville. My brother and I put my daughter in one sled, all our food in another and walked to my mom’s, dodging downed power lines. She had a wood stuff so we could at least have heat. Had some of the best meals on that wood stove!”

Jenna Melo

Heated our house with the woodstove. It got too hot one night, so we left the bedroom window open. We could hear crackling from ice and tree limbs breaking. Once in a while, we would hear a loud pop and a flash of light when a transformer blew.

I was living in Wilton and we had just bought a generator about a week before. Good thing because we were trapped at home with a 2 and 4-year-old for two days before we could even get down the road. My husband (at the time) and another guy who lived down the street were out for the first couple days cutting trees that were across the road so that we could all get out. We were out for a total of 13 days and our neighbor through the back yard was only out for four because he was on a different grid. At day three, I drove up to Antrim to bring my grandmother a hot meal and hot coffee. I had to get creative getting there since a lot of roads were still closed. The thing I will remember the most is the sound of the ice/ branches breaking. It was eerie.”

Becka Boo

“The loud crack of tree tops breaking in the backyard. 6-1/2 days of no heat and no water. BAE allowing employees to bring family in to use showers.”

Cindy Dunn

“We were in Bedford at the time. We had no power for eight days. Sent our daughter to a friend’s to Goffstown. We slept with coats on, two dogs and a cat-all in the bed to keep warm. It was what made us go out and buy a whole house standby generator.”

Jackie Fazziola

Chamberlain

“Cooking pot roast in a Dutch oven in the fireplace insert, pressure canning all the meats that were thawing in the freezer…we have a bad cook top. Making countless jars of BlackBerry syrup and jam from thawing berries. I remember that night sitting near the fire, hearing all the transformers blowing and trees falling and thinking it was like end of the world.”

Judy Keller

“I remember that Mason Road was impassable to get to our home. So many trees down and had to wait for our friend Carl Chappell to come and clear the roads of trees. Love ya Carl and Sally Chappell.”

Linda Hamelin Shattuck

“I was in the middle of the War in Afghanistan when I received Red Cross message that my home was damaged and I needed to come home.”

Matt Bernard