http://mauee069.chudadi.com/ EcoTips for a better home and planet en http://mauee069.chudadi.com/2009/01/27/2009-ice-storms.html Here we go again. over a million people are without power due to ice storms across the Midwest stretching down into Texas. Ice storms are a huge problem on behalf of buildings constructed in areas where they are not common. One of the things that is happening is warmer temperatures in the outer atmosphere mean there's more moisture. When this moisture condenses it begins to drop as rain. If surface conditions are below freezing, the rain drops freeze as well as become ice. When upper atmosphere temperatures are cold the water falls as snow not rain. Snow is less damaging since it weighs about 1/10th as much as ice. In addition to the power outages - we should anticipate an increase in building roof collapses. Steeper sloped roofs are better equipped to deal with this extreme weather where at least some of the ice shall generally slide off. Flat roofs tend to accumulate the ice as well as are more likely to collapse from the load. Some areas have been reported to already have about 6 inches of ice with another 6 inches potentially falling in the next 24 hours. Twelve inches of ice on a roof weighs about 60 pounds. That is a huge amount of weight on behalf of a roof since numerous roofs in areas that are not commonly exposed to the weight from ice as well as snow have been built to hold a minimum of twenty pounds.  We should also anticipate difficulties with frozen plumbing as well as ice dams. For more information about these topics type the following key words into the search engine on behalf of this site (right hand column) do one search at a time: ice dam, plumbing, thermal imaging, roof, can light, frozen. If you require help with damage - the  IICRC is the place to go on behalf of a referral to a specialist in these types of problems. The following is from their web-site: The IICRC is a nationally accredited, non-profit certification body that works to protect consumers from deceptive as well as unreliable companies in the cleaning, restoration as well as inspection industry. IICRC-Certified Firms as well as Technicians must meet the highest industry standards to maintain their good standing. IICRC offers water as well as flood damage tips at http://www.certifiedcleaners.org/ts_tips_advice.shtml you can use their directory search to help find a certified firm or call 1-800-835-4624. John Banta is the author of Extreme Weather Hits Home: Protecting Our Buildings from Climate Change. Posted in :010 Water Damage, :256 Mold as well as Water Damage, :259 Water Damage Help, :313 Winter Thermal Imaging, :314 Emergency Pipe Protection, :315 Defrosting Frozen Pipes, :317 Prevent Ice Dams, :318 Predict Ice Dams, :320 Can Lights & Ice Dams, :362 Attic Ice, Ice Storms, Latest 1:5:10:365 Tips   Tagged: collapse, extreme weather, flat roof, frozen, frozen plumbing, ice, ice dam, ice storm, ice weight, roof, thermal imaging    Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:52:41 -0500 mauee069