IceStorm 98 Study

Jack Chiang [JC] left his office at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday night and didn't think the weather was particularly bad for a winter night. After supper he decided to go out and clear the step at his home, in the process he fell and injured his elbow and wrist. Later that evening he went to the basement and found dripping water, "which had never happened before."

Early the next morning, from looking outside and listening to the radio, he realized that conditions were pretty bad. Arriving at the Whig offices about 9 am, he found that he was the first in to work and that there was no power. Fortunately, they had a new cell phone system and the managing editor, Lynn Haddrall was able to contact him and they discussed what to do.

They put together an emergency plan to publish a paper, moving the deadline up to 12:30 for copy. As staff arrived they moved computer terminals to the offset plant, which had power. It was the first day of his new job as City Editor [although he had done the job earlier, in 94-95, and had some experience and knew what he was doing].

He phoned all the reporters and photographers not knowing, at first, who he would be able to get since they all had their own personal problems to deal with. He couldn't contact any reporters directly, but got through on a few lines and left messages. The photographers were all reached quickly since they all have cell phones.

As of 9:45 am, he was the only one working, but the photographers were on their way in and he was in contact with them. JC planned an emergency staff meeting to decide who was going to do what, but it was hard to communicate since everyone was so spread out.

He went to the offset plant to work out the details of putting the paper out. One of the problems was processing film, which is normally done by Camera Kingston but they were also without power, so he contacted Japan Camera at the Cataraqui Town Centre and arranged for rush processing.

After about 11 am he was co-ordinating coverage and got hold of Anne Lukits to contact the hospital emergency/ambulance services to see how they were coping. Other reporters were also contacted. Some worked out of their homes and called in their stories by phone. JC talked to 3 or 4 reporters and two photographers. One of the big problems was the short time frame they were working in and the delays involved in contacting people.

Another problem was getting hold of Ontario Hydro [OH] to find out the status on electrical power in the various regions. Part of the trouble might have been not knowing who to call. It was difficult to get information from OH for a few days. The paper wanted to print information for people about the power outages. The Kingston Public Utilities people were easier to reach.

JC reports that the paper received a lot of angry calls from readers about why there wasn't more information about the power situation.

The technical staff set up the computers at the offset plant, but there was only one operating in the beginning. Other reporters sat around writing in long hand. In the meantime his cell phone was ringing non-stop with information from field reporters and photographers. Then the batteries ran out and he had to wait to recharge them.

He felt that his role and authority were clear; to send out reporters and get information in a couple of hours rather than the usual 8 hrs. The difficulty was that some staff couldn't come in so, day to day, he didn't know what his staff would be.

As to his editorial approach, JC noted that one aspect was pictures, "...the whole thing is visual." With regards to the articles, "...the main concern was to tell people how long the power would be out and how the emergency officials were dealing with it." Information about shelters and important phone numbers were also priorities to get into the paper.

The paper was well read that week, "many people were surprised that the paper got out at all."

JC worked from about 6 am to midnight every day. Once the paper was in the hands of the press people, he would drive around to the shelters and other areas to determine what to cover the next day; "what would be the main stories and who would do them."

The features section of the paper was dropped entirely. Everything in the paper had to do with the emergency.

The normal decision-making structure was modified rather than changed. Usually he has a list of stories or events to be covered and then matches reporters to the stories. "But the priorities always change." "The thing that was not normal was the number of people working and how long they could stay at work before being called away to deal with family matters."

The story meetings were still held although he normally has a two page list with 25-30 story ideas and they work through what will be done by whom, when and how and how much space is allotted. During the storm period this couldn't be printed out so he had to hand write everything and read it out rather than give copies. "The staff came together really well, everyone chipped in. [One reporter's] husband helped by driving her around. Photographers helped each other with getting film to [and from] the Cataraqui Centre.

A serious problem was not having enough computers. JC often waited 5 hours to get on, since only 2 or 3 were working. Ideally, they would also have had a more extensive list of numbers of who to call for certain types of information, such as at OH. But, "I don't know if their phones would have been working anyway."

He suggests that OH and others dealing with the emergency should try to get hold of the media early to report information for their customers. He got a lot of their calls concerning when the power would be on again. "Even if it is just to say that it won't be on until a certain time, this lets people make alternative plans rather than waiting day to day."

The paper lost some money on advertising but everyone was more preoccupied with getting the paper out, "...people like to know what's going on." He got a number of calls from citizens saying that they were thankful for the paper, "...especially older people who were afraid to go out and risk getting hurt."

JC felt that getting the paper out was also important since "the pictures summed up the storm for people." "Radio has trouble with lists of things...the paper has a role to provide a visual record and detail information like phone numbers -which radio and television has trouble doing."

Regarding the role of an emergency plan, JC said that they have none since "every day is an emergency - assignments are constantly being shuffled and re-prioritized."

He had no contact with the provincial EMO.

Stress was not a great issue and, JC felt, "...they coped amazingly well. Most people were very positive. All the staff, in fact, [was] much more positive than normal. They worked together as a team, [and] nobody complained about what they had to do outside of their normal tasks."

The effect on his own family was not too great. The power remained on at his home. Regarding his own frantic schedule, he notes, "...it's normal for me -this job is sort of crazy anyway at the best of times." And, "in a way it was better for me since the phone didn't ring as much." JC normally gets about one hundred phone calls per day. This changed during the storm to mainly dealing with the reporters and photographers.

"The only thing that stuck in my mind was how positive everybody was, how the whole community pulled together to help each other out." He is also "...proud of the job the staff did in the circumstances. Some people didn't realize that it was a miracle the paper got out at all."

It was frustrating, however, that they "couldn't get out of town more" and had to concentrate on the immediate urban area. However, it would have taken too much time to go out of town and their technical requirements left a very limited time frame.

They never knew, at any given point, how much longer they would have the electrical power to put together and print the paper.