IceStorm 98 Study

Dale Stamp says that he began to realize the scope of the event on the Saturday -- the rain started falling on the fifth -- and he became aware of ice formation on the overnight of Wednesday/Thursday at which point he saw that his driveway was completely blocked. He was trapped in his house and there was no power from 6:00am and no phone from about noon on the 8th. He was unable to get in touch with township staff, and though he could walk to the end of his driveway he could not make contact with anyone to help him out.

Friday morning he began to clear a path from his home with a hand saw and at that point someone showed up with a chainsaw and got him out. Communication was the biggest problem and it was not until Saturday (10th) that he was able to get to Mallorytown -- Front of Yonge had their shelter up and running -- and meet the Reeve. They decided to advise their people that the shelter was running and that people should use it.

Dale Stamp says his first official action as Reeve was to call together the councilors that he could find (on Saturday) at the Recreation Centre in Rockport -- the best place to gather given that no one had power at all. The Recreation Centre had a propane powered cook stove. People showed up in Rockport because that's where people could get to. The road crews had already been out since Thursday to ensure that emergency crews could get around: they did not need to be directed.

Dale Stamp says that he declared an emergency effective 8th January which gave him the ability to access the various programs available from the different levels of government. Then Dale Stamp established the shelter in the Rockport Recreation Centre to provide food, clothing, gasoline -- and they ran it as a meeting place. They called for volunteers over the Brockville radio station -- and they had a large team who went out looking in on people living in remote areas. The first house-to-house was done on Sunday the 11th and one of the volunteers took over the organization of the house to house searches.

Dale Stamp says there were no challenges to his authority -- people wanted to know why he was not "doing something." Nor was money ever a concern in the emergency: "if somebody needs something, get it." Dale Stamp says he assumed there would be emergency funds available from the province.

Dale Stamp says the township has an emergency plan which was in the process of being reviewed -- but there had never been a rehearsal of the emergency plan in the whole of the life of the council. And there were two new councilors with no experience at all. So that was a problem. Another councilor got sick and had to stay home. The Deputy Reeve is a dairy farmer and was not available because he was trying to preserve his own operation. So Dale Stamp says he was "on duty" with two new councilors and a whole lot of volunteers. Fortunately Dale Stamp says the township had Paul Tulk who "took charge of the shelter" -- though Dale Stamp says he will not take responsibility. One of the new councilors was an ex-naval man and he was well organized.

Dale Stamp says that people just come out of the woodwork when things happen, and they turn out to be really useful. People seemed to pick up the initiative on their own.

The biggest problem was communicating with people in the township and Bruce Wiley "did an awful lot of work" keeping people informed. There were only two phone lines in the Rockport Centre and it was a problem getting through to CFJR. Dale Stamp says he tried hard to keep in touch with Wiley. Dale Stamp says that the road crew had cell phones and a HAM radio operator came to the Rec. Centre and set up his station and provided some communication capability.

Dale Stamp says he spoke to Bruce Wiley once or twice a day. Dale Stamp says the only means of communication he had with his citizens was through Bruce Wiley. People were most concerned about the progress of hydro restoration, and tracking their progress across the region. Dale Stamp stayed home -- and eventually the Standard Church in Brockville came up with a generator and this allowed Dale Stamp and his wife to stay in their home. The Standard Church made a substantial contribution to DS's township.

Dale Stamp says there was little strategizing going on in their response to the emergency -- "We were not prepared, clearly. There's no excuse." Dale Stamp says that he does not know how anyone in a rural setting could have prepared for such a disaster.

The Standard Church (Bill Tennant) delivered a lot of stuff from Brockville, food, water, kerosene, propane -- though there was no request from DS's township. Eventually a routine developed by which the Standard Church would deliver stuff as needed, but "it grew like topsy."

"Initiative" was the key word. It was also a waste of expertise because a large number of shelters were set up without reference to a central authority so that resources may have been spread too thinly. Dale Stamp is not sure there would have been an effective way to direct them -- it would have been difficult. Dale Stamp says that it's fortunate that people took the initiative before they were organized and drawn into a plan.

Priorities were set "by the demands of the moment." Then Dale Stamp says that if it appeared to be a continuing need they worked out how to get more of it. Individual initiative played an important role.

When the provincial relief came down, it was for immediate relief but there were no clear guidelines as to dispersal. Dale Stamp says his township was worried about people collecting more than they were eligible for. The intent was to satisfy immediate humanitarian need.

Dale Stamp says that "everything was done on the spur of the moment." There was no opportunity to review things, though there has been a debriefing since -- and Dale Stamp will send us the report.

1. Each councilor will have a cell phone so that some communication is possible -- this was identified as the most important problem.
2. It is not clear whether a shelter need be set up, DS's township may be too small, yet a location is needed where people can go if only to meet each other rather than be isolated. There is also a need for a depot where people can get some supplies of some kind.

Dale Stamp says that people in the rural areas "are generally more self-sufficient" -- even in situations where people are without power, they often have wood-stoves. So they can cook and keep themselves warm and they have kerosene lamps for light. In fact there was great reluctance to move. In this regard the OPP were great. They came to the shelter three or four times per day and ask if they could do anything or look in on anyone. They would stay around for 20 minutes and then move on. Dale Stamp found this very reassuring and an important part of the whole thing. There was one family that had to be moved because someone in the family needed oxygen -- so they had to be relocated. The OPP do have power to arrest and move someone but, Dale Stamp says, that's a last resort.

The review of the township's emergency plan is almost complete and Dale Stamp would like to organize a rehearsal of it. Dale Stamp says he did attend an emergency review in Athens High School about three years ago -- but did not find it very helpful because it was not well organized. The emergency plan the township had was overwhelmed by the scope and scale of the ice storm.

Dale Stamp attended meetings in Brockville (information meetings on the progress of the recovery) held by the Provincial emergency authorities. Dale Stamp did not attend every one, which caused some problems because Hydro omitted progress reports on Escott. Dale Stamp complains that Escott fell between the cracks in the emergency -- being a smaller sector between larger townships. Dale Stamp says he was the "squeaky wheel" -- and the local MP and MPP were there with the emergency measures people, the police and so forth, to either give or receive information. Dale Stamp found it useful to know what was going on in other places. Dale Stamp commends Harold Tulk (Chief of Fire Service, Brockville) who coordinated fire service in rural municipalities.

Dale Stamp says he got very ill (pneumonia) over the course of the emergency, and his doctor told him to pack up and get out -- eventually he backed out around the 17th, after the power had come back on. Dale Stamp says that he saw a lot of stress around him too, but no one would accept stress counseling. Dale Stamp says people were beginning to get sick. By the time Dale Stamp had to quit the routines were well-established and things were running along well.

The roads supervisor also got testy, residents complained about the condition of the roads, some of the complaints were "not subject to settlement by reason." The temperature was volatile so that ice was forming and melting and there were potholes opening up. Dale Stamp had to calm down a couple of people who had had a run-in with residents.

Dale Stamp says that his wife is a nurse in Brockville and she sprained her wrist -- then she had to attend to an outbreak of some kind in the nursing home in which she works. It was another problem added to the situation they already had.

Dale Stamp's advice to a Reeve 20 years hence: "Take care of your volunteers."