Hurricane Fran roared through central North Carolina last night leaving many
people without power, water, phones...or homes.  Karen Marsh-Lovvorn, who
runs the Triangle-area ferret shelter has a pine tree through her daughter's
bedroom ceiling, but everyone (humans and ferrets) are fine, if quite a bit
shaken.  Our local group, Triangle Ferret Lovers (TriFL) was to have a
meeting tomorrow in Cary, NC, but Karen believes that it is impossible for
many people to make the meeting, and some of the major roads through Cary
are reported closed to allow utility workers to clear power lines and
restore service.  So, anyone still able to receive the FML, please pass the
words to others in the group or if you're not in the local area but know
folks in TriFL, give them a call to see if they're all right.  Obviously,
the ferret shelter will be handicapped for at least a few days until Karen
and Joseph can see to their immediate needs.  Most counties in the area also
have evening curfews in force which will hamper getting around.
 
A few words about water.  Once water service has been interrupted, remember
that you must boil or chemically treat any water that comes out of the tap
for several days after water service is restored.  Anyone affected by Fran
should drink bottled or treated water until the local health authorities
give the all-clear.  Water can be chemically treated by putting a drop of
iodine in a gallon on tap water and leaving it overnight.  It's also
possible to treat tap water using chlorine bleach but I don't remember the
number of drops per gallon.  If anyone has that info, please post it.
Boiled water is better, but not possible for those who don't have power or
gas service.  Bottled water is better still, but most stores are sold out by
now.  Once water pressure has been cut off in the water mains the pressure
of the surrounding surface water forces dissolved contaminants into the
pipes so that when water pressure is restored in the pipes, the water lines
contain contaminants that have seeped in and it takes several days of
flushing to remove them.  So, even though your local water authority filters
and cleans the water at the water plant, the contaminants lie between them
and your house, so don't use untreated water after an outage.
 
--Jeff Johnston
[Posted in FML issue 1685]