We are caught with our proverbial pants down in this ice storm in Montgomery County, PA...
Now please allow me to preface this by saying that the vast majority of those involved have places to go, have relatives, friends, churches and synagogues opened their doors and invited those without power to spend the night or charge their phones, computers, or whatever. We are definitely NOT going to have an apocalypse of any type here anytime soon and the power should be back for virtually everyone within three days.
However, it is worth noting that there have been some real catastrophes: an ER doc was helping a neighbor remove a tree limb from his driveway and another branch fell and the doc was taken to the hospital in very critical condition. There are downed sparking power lines all over the place and believe it or not, the valley in which I live has very very poor cellular service BECAUSE building a cellular tower nearby has been voted down time and again. So the people with their power lines cavorting in their driveways can't leave their homes since 13000 volts is easily conducted through the standing water around the houses and they can't report the disaster because there's no phone service. Conundrum,eh? anyone else want to "preserve the environment" BY NOT BUILDING A FRIGGING CELL TOWER???!!!!! We have been warning about EXACTLY this issue for YEARS here: the roads are tree-lined and any storm, but especially a storm such as this one, knocks branches down and we lose power routinely. If the phone lines go down we can't call anyone and tell them that we have no power. When we tell vendors that we have no cell service, they talk to us like we're stupid or something. "How can that be?"
Anyway, there are almost 600000 homes without power and even when it comes back on for many, it goes off again due to more falling branches or shorting transformers.
Well, life sure ain't dull....
= new reply since forum marked as read
hope is that everyone uses their heads and keeps themselves safe. And warm.
Do most folks have generators?
The damage and outages in my little bubble of MontCo are very reminiscent of the Sandy aftermath. We have many trees down, including my favorite tree in front of my apartment. 
I spent all night listening to limbs snapping and transformers blowing. We were very fortunate to retain power as many of my nearby friends are in the dark. I drove around this afternoon and it looks horrible.
I do have a cell tower nearby and we are still having some connection issues....I have heard the same from others in my area.
I think this county was declared a disaster area. Am I correct? I know we are in a State of Emergency, but some friends said we were declared a disaster.
Are you on Facebook? If so, I highly encourage you to follow Eastern PA Weather Authority. They are phenomenal, low on hype, and typically very accurate. They do have a website, but they are more active on Facebook with important weather updates.
It's going to get windy tonight, which may stress trees and wires, so stay safe!
Listening to the trees crack is really eerie.
(I'm in Chester County, and I am sitting in almost dark with a Coleman camp lantern, a wireless internet connection, and a battery powered radio tuned to KYW. And no heat.)
Thanks for the Facebook tip. 
Work has power so I know I can recharge everything tomorrow. (Assuming they keep it!)
I hope your electricity is restored very, very soon. 
While we wait to see when our hills will catch fire, just remember: Life is just one damn thing after another.
