Also, speaking of Friday the 13th, here's something that happened in October 12/13th, 2006 in my area.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Buffalo+October+storm
I didn't lose power or anything (though cable TV was out, which I don't have), a few houses down the road from me had power, but had no phone and no cable. My area wasn't hit too bad, but in some parts, for those of you who have never seen a blizzard, you can only imagine the damage just 3 miles from me, transformers blowing up all over the place, power, cable, phone lines down, no fresh running water to houses in some places, trees destroying cars and homes, and more.