Every place gets storms at times, we get a lot of limbs down on power lines here with just a strong thunder storm because there are a lot of trees. The news migth say "50,000" without power, which I'd guess means 20 or so downed lines, and they get them repaired in a few hours, usually. That means 20+ crews find the spot, and repair the line, in a few hours. It's impressive, to me.
When I was a kid, we had a bad ice storm. Everything was down. Pine trees had snapped off during the night, I was kept awake hearing them snap, like a cannon going off. We were without power for six days, had to walk up the street to a Waffle House for any hot food. It warmed up after the storm, so the house wasn't too cold. This was maybe 1968 or so. We couldn't drive on our street for six days because of all the trees down, some were just bent over like a U and blocking the street, had to be cut down.
Looked like a "war zone". The whole metro area was like that.
