IceStorm 98 Study

Brian Wheeler says that he realized when the power went out and it started to get cold, the first night (Thursday). The Kinsman Community Hall opened as a shelter the following day, but Brian Wheeler says that he noticed the damage on his own property and when he listened to the radio it became clear that an emergency was under way. Brian Wheeler says he went to volunteer at the Kinsman Hall on the 9th. Brian Wheeler says that the Salvation Army did registration as people came in and the Salvation Army also provided cots for the first couple of nights until the army cots arrived from Ottawa. The cots came from the Canadian Armed Forces, not the Salvation army. The shelter was open a couple of days before the cots arrived. The community run shelter continued its relationship as a result of a request from the coordinator to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army did a lot of after-storm recovery work. Their power came back on the following Monday 19th.

The Salvation Army began to take in people looking for food and assistance -- people looking to put their lives back together. The shelter still had people on the 19th but it was forced to close due to a flu outbreak. The Salvation Army housed people in a local motel as a result of the health outbreak and the Salvation Army arranged with Meals on Wheels to provide lunches for these people and another local church (Presbyterian) provided the supper meal. The Salvation Army spent the money they usually raise at Christmas, the Christmas Family Service Appeal. They tracked their receipts. The Salvation Army gave out $1,185 dollars worth of food assistance, and $300 worth of clothing and $545 in rental to motels.

The Salvation Army took care of 53 families for a total of 133 individuals.

There were problems of coordination between the town and the Salvation Army and the Salvation Army tried to assist where they could -- once the storm was over the Salvation Army did what they could for individuals. Most of the SA's work was post-storm: e.g. volunteers to provide child-care at the shelter. The Salvation Army provided toys and puzzles and set up a corner for the kids and a couple of ladies from the Salvation Army corp supervised the kids in the shelter. The Salvation Army did emergency coffee relief for the utility workers around the town -- during the storm.

The Salvation Army responded where they thought they had resources to respond. Communications were problematic: BW's residential phone went down but the business phone stayed working, otherwise they drove around the town.

Brian Wheeler says that "the community pulled together" and that "everyone cooperated." Communications were troublesome and it took a while for people to get coordinated and moving together. The Salvation Army feels it should have been contacted earlier -- that it should not have had to contact the emergency coordinator. Communications between the responding agencies was the most difficult aspect of the event. In Kingston Brian Wheeler says the Salvation Army was contacted immediately, whereas the Gananoque emergency plan had not been updated and many of the contact numbers were obsolete.

Brian Wheeler says that his biggest problem was the cold, as a result of the lack of power (5 days) and then fatigue. Brian Wheeler says he thinks the Salvation Army itself coped well.

Brian Wheeler says that Kingston coordinated a lot of the SA's activities in Gananoque. Brian Wheeler says that he does not know how well the SA's emergency planning worked.

Brian Wheeler says that he is not sure he would do anything differently in the event of another storm -- that they would go along the same way. Brian Wheeler says that they now have a disaster budget for the first time and are also on the emergency planning core group of Gananoque.

Brian Wheeler says that "everyone that was able was out doing something." Brian Wheeler says that the Salvation Army has contacted the town and asked to be a sitting member of the emergency core group.

Brian Wheeler has no emergency training himself, nor does anyone on his staff -- but someone has since been sent. Someone came from Brockville to Gananoque to lecture on crisis councilling.

Brian Wheeler had no contact with either the provincial or federal emergency measures agencies -- though Kingston did. Brian Wheeler had no contact with the media. Brian Wheeler says that the event was stressful but that he and his wife dealt with it by "going out and helping" -- by trying to keep busy and "doing something". Brian Wheeler says that he too found the experience uplifting in some respects. Brian Wheeler has not seen evidence of post-event stress.

Brian Wheeler says that one of the elderly gentlemen that the Salvation Army helped had frostbite in his toes and the tips of his fingers from staying in his house for too long when it was too cold. Brian Wheeler says the Gananoque Salvation Army corps is small -- that none of the churches were contacted by Town Hall -- and Brian Wheeler has suggested that the Salvation Army be the ministerial representative for the Gananoque religious community. Most of the volunteers, ironically, were from the various church organizations.