IceStorm 98 Study

Diane Hall says she began to appreciate the scope of the storm on the evening of the 8th -- and in the late afternoon -- she realized "this is not just a minor ice storm." She spoke with the Reeve and Site manager as designated under the Emergency plan. The Clerk was out of town (in London) so Diane Hall took over the discussion of and implementation of the emergency plan. She and the Reeve spoke around 4:00 and made a decision (on the basis of the lateness of the hour) that it would not be practical to do anything at that time -- it was not too cold and it did not make sense to bring staff in -- so they called in the staff on the morning of the 9th and implemented the emergency plan, which was declared at 11:05 by the Reeve.

Diane Hall says that she lives about four or five miles north of her office -- and that she was "taken aback by the devastation of the trees" and amazed that there was so little property damage given the number of trees and limbs that had been felled by the weight of ice.

Diane Hall says they next designated their community building as the emergency shelter. They decided to combine all their functions and areas into one centre -- owing to the lack of power and telephone -- even though phone communication stayed up (courtesy the Lansdowne Telephone Company). Diane Hall says they were never without telephone communication which was a great advantage to the township. Diane Hall has high praise for the fire department which got them a small generator for operating the municipal office -- providing a place for people to come and be warm. John Trudgen brought back from London an even larger generator though it was not large enough to run a larger shelter area.

Diane Hall says that most people had backup heat systems of some kind (like fireplaces) or they went to their neighbors who did. There was a lot of neighbors looking after neighbors and this was one of the best things about the experience -- and Diane Hall says that "getting people to leave their homes" was problematic (fears of vandalism & freezing) and she was glad she did not have to.

During the day Diane Hall was extremely busy answering phones and she says it was important to "just be there" for people worried about firewood or hydro's progress. Diane Hall says that "people just wanted to have some contact with us." Diane Hall says that she was able to reassure people because she was also in touch -- by radio -- with the roads people. Diane Hall could tell people whether it was safe for them to leave their homes, the conditions of the roads and so forth, and she was able to reassure people that there was food and coffee at the shelter.

Diane Hall says that she did not think about her authority to act in the crisis, she acted on the basis of the emergency plan even though the plan did not contemplate a large-scale emergency. She simply knew the authority delegated to her and Diane Hall says that "a plan is better than no plan" even in the absence of the town clerk. Besides, Diane Hall says, things were happening so fast that decisions had to be made. Diane Hall says that they were lucky that there was no loss of life (there was one event-related death) or damage to property because Diane Hall says "your feelings change." Diane Hall says that she knew that most of her people were safe although they needed food, water and heat -- and getting them that and keeping them calm was the challenge that Diane Hall was to deliver on. There were some frustrated people, but Diane Hall was able to convince them that everyone was in the same situation. The township was twinned with MNR and Diane Hall has praise for them too -- they brought generators with them (Sunday or Monday) and those generators were sent out to people who needed them to pump their basements (as did the fire department).

Diane Hall put a lot of her own time into coordinating the movement of generators from basement to freezer to farm.

Diane Hall says that money was not a concern, there were no large items of purchase. The generators had to be maintained and fixed, but Diane Hall has no memory of worrying about who was paying for the recovery. Diane Hall says that in this type of emergency, a county-wide event, things are passed on to a higher tier of responsibility.

Diane Hall says that she prioritized on the basis of (1) life and (2) property. Larger scale decisions were made by the Clerk (John Trudgen) upon his return to the township.

Diane Hall says that communication was enhanced in a sense by having everyone together in the same space -- so that a decision by one was transmitted to everyone since it was impossible (by virtue of efforts to maintain heat) to prevent everyone from being in on decision-making. An emergency management committee met daily -- most actors came every day until the OPP and health unit went instead to the county wide meetings. The services provided by the OPP and ambulance "certainly cannot go unrecognized" if only for the visibility of those people as a reassurance to the residents. The army was also on site by the first of the week following the storm. They were housed in the basement of the community building, and they brought their own heat. It was fortunate, Diane Hall says, that it never got too cold or things would have been much more difficult, larger generators would have been required and more people would have been in danger. Diane Hall says that would have demanded very important decisions -- and that no emergency plan was able to predict such a large-scale emergency.

Diane Hall says she worked most directly with her own staff and with the MNR and one of their workers who took up station in the municipal office maintaining generators and keeping a paper trail on every unit. Every generator went out on the understanding that the person who took it would be responsible for gassing and maintaining it if they could or at least advising that a generator might have a mechanical problem. MNR (20-odd people) came to the township: most of them went to the roads department and 4 or 5 people ran the generator program. MNR delegated their own people according to their own criteria in collaboration with Wayne Forbes (roads superintendent).

Diane Hall says that preservation of life was the first priority for everyone. Being twinned with MNR was valuable, particularly when the original twin went to the rear of Leeds & Lansdowne by mistake.

Diane Hall says that what worked well was the whole attitude of all the elements working together: staff, volunteers, and so forth and realizing that they could cope on a day to day basis that things were not that bad compared to other places. Diane Hall put in a lot of long hours. Diane Hall says that having a positive attitude was useful, an attitude of working together. Volunteers made a huge difference, offering their services for anything they could do.

Diane Hall says that off the top there were problems of communication with the United Counties -- mostly because of telephone problems. Bell Canada was not as lucky as the Lansdowne Telephone Company, which was able to maintain its service. There was supposed to be assistance from the county level, but communication was not adequate.

Diane Hall says that the communications problems forced the township to set their own response underway while waiting for communication with neighboring townships.

Diane Hall says that everything seemed to run in together -- but a most frustrating thing was not being able to tell people exactly when they would get their hydro back, because people seemed to be able to cope if they knew when their power was going to come on again. Ontario Hydro needed to be able to get more information to the township, where they were working, where they thought services would be restored, as a reassurance to the residents.

Diane Hall says that -- assuming no problem with finances -- she would want the community building to provide "a larger service" to people in the event of another storm comparable to the ice storm, to provide meals and so forth. Telephone communication across the township was spotty: the Bell System (west end) went down and those people felt isolated. The fire station west of Gananoque had an emergency shelter -- where people could sleep -- but a lot of people did not have battery-operated radios and so never learned of the existence of that facility. Diane Hall thinks -- if she had to do it again -- that everyone should be communicated with (even using the house to house checks) and all the residents should be advised (a handout perhaps) of what is available to them if their phones are down.

Diane Hall says that the township is looking into a better source of supply for generators, to make the fire hall able to accommodate a generator (pre-wired perhaps) so that a generator could run the fire hall without too much difficulty. Communications with the residents could be better, little stores became the life-lines to various areas and could have been used more effectively to distribute information.

The emergency plan was useful -- Diane Hall says -- because everyone had it and knew what they were to do if they could. Everyone took on all kinds of jobs: phones, meals, etc. Diane Hall did an emergency program which she found very useful -- and Diane Hall says that no one ever panicked or wondered what they were supposed to be doing. Diane Hall says the staff worked well together at all times.

Diane Hall says that Randy Reid communicated with the township (from Brockville) even though the emergency plan calls for the township to contact Toronto.

Diane Hall says that the Federal & Provincial emergency measures people (particularly the MNR) were helpful -- providing close to 80-90 generators. Diane Hall had no contact with the media.

Diane Hall says that stress was not a concern, at least at the time, until she went home. Then she realized how much stress she had been under. Her own personal home-life was organized, so she was lucky. She says that she made a point of ensuring that those people who had large responsibilities at home stayed home and discharged those duties rather than be on the job. But Diane Hall says that even when she went home her mind was on the job. Diane Hall says that the military took over manning the phones on the nightshift -- about 10:00pm each night -- and then Diane Hall and staff would return at 7:00am.

Diane Hall has praise for the residents and their endurance and cooperation with each other. Mostly it brought out the best in people -- even though some generators did get stolen.

Diane Hall says that in the history of the township Ice Storm '98 would qualify as "the big emergency" and she's glad they had a plan. She thinks the plan worked well and she hopes that she'll never see another one again on this scale. One loss of life -- could have been much worse. She is grateful to Hydro because their crews worked under extreme conditions and they deserve a lot of credit.