IceStorm 98 Study

Elizabethtown township extends north of New Dublin by about10 miles and surrounds the city of Brockville to the south. His area of jurisdiction extends along the St Lawrence river on either side of Brockville. The population in the area is approximately 7,500 people.

On the morning of January 8th, DM woke at 4:am to the sound of cracking tree limbs and the complete loss of his power. Luckily, however, he had a generator which provided him with heat and water.

Wires and tree limbs had fallen across his laneway which effectively made him a prisoner in his own home. His immediate thought was how was he going to get in touch with anybody.

With his tractor, he managed to clear the driveway and get out onto the main road. Arriving at the municipal offices in New Dublin, he discovered that there was no power to either the offices or to the new fire station down the road.

When he finally managed to contact his roads superintendent, he was told that “we can’t cope with this, we’re in bad shape”. To this day, his superintendent remains on a leave of absence due to the stress he experienced as a result of the storm.

Phone calls to Brockville that Thursday morning were unsuccessful because of downed lines. It wasn’t until Friday that they were able to get through and a meeting was arranged for noon that Friday. At the meeting, the reeve declared that Elizabethtown township was a disaster area.
After the meeting one of the first things that the reeve did was to purchase cellular phones for himself and his staff. His cellular phone was active and attached to him during this interview.

Matters were further complicated by the fact that there was no warden yet available. An interim warden was appointed to co-ordinate relief efforts. Howard French, who was subsequently elected to that position, took on the responsibility.

The fire department distributed generators when they became available and trucked water to the farmers so that they could provide water to their cattle and other livestock.

A shelter was set up in Spring Valley just a few miles away and within a short space of time was accommodating up to 100 people.

Several volunteers started a door to door campaign which was strengthened by the arrival of the Army. The army proved to be a “god send”.

DM’s biggest worry was concerning the health and welfare of the elderly. In particular he suggested that in the event of an future emergency of this magnitude that some way might be found to place pets. There were several individuals who refused to leave their houses until they could be assured that their pets were being cared for. They had to be physically removed since their lives were in danger.

The power outage lasted from two to three weeks.

On the weekend of the 18th of April, the reeve will be visiting the Kitchener- Waterloo region to personally thank those who assisted in the relief effort in his county. There were transports loaded with food and wood sent to him from this municipality.

The reeve is committed to providing extra generators for the two Fire Halls, the Works garage and the municipal office.

At this point in time, the reeve estimates that the municipality has spent “well on it’s way over half a million dollars”. He is hoping that “some money will fall out of heaven, or some place”.
In spite of this, the municipality has brought some people in who were on employment insurance to assist in the clean-up.

DM was very surprised at how well it went together. Everybody helped out because they were all in it together.

One experience that the reeve will never forget concerns a mennonite farmer who called from south western Ontario with an offer of generators. When he was told that yes, they could use some more, the farmer informed them that he would arrive at midnight with the generators. At midnight the farmer called and apologized for not showing up and told them that he wouldn’t arrive until 8:00 a.m. the next morning. He explained that while loading the generators his son had had an accident and broke his foot and that he had been at the hospital. He was just about to leave.

Upon arrival at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, he was offered money for gas and a meal and as the reeve says “ he wouldn’t take a nickel”. Every evening, he called the reeve to inquire whether they were being used and he was assured that they were,

Acts of kindness and generosity like this took the reeve totally by surprise. He was astonished that people would come from far away to help out at cost to themselves and ask for nothing in return. The community, as a whole, is grateful for the effort that these people expended on their behalf.

If an emergency situation like this occurs again, the mayor is assured that the community services will be better able to respond. In addition to the equipment which will be purchased and put in place, his emergency plan will be amended to include the lessons learned from this experience.