IceStorm 98 Study

Meek first knew this was no ordinary ice storm about 3 days into it. The Sunday before the actual storm, Meek was on call. He worked a "24 hour stint" that Sunday night". He knew then that the weather was bad. He knew by Wednesday that "it was out of control" (for Hydro anyways). They were losing a lot of lines and trees were starting to break. Early Thursday morning the power went out in Mallorytown. This is when the transformer station in Brockville lost power. They were actually watching it when it happened. It was about 5 o'clock in the morning and they were on their way to breakfast in Brockville when all of a sudden--"click" the lights went out and they knew they wouldn't be getting any breakfast in Brockville.

Meek had been putting in a lot of overtime since Sunday. They had already been working more than 16 hour days to this point in time. He says they were working more than what they should have been by this time. Things were starting to snowball. There wasn't the help. By the Tuesday night before the storm hit, all of hydro's people were working. No extras had been called in at this point yet because the severity of the storm was not known yet. Nobody was "forced" to work this overtime. People just did it because it was their job.

The area that Meek usually covers goes from Gananoque to Cardinal, Ontario along the river and then roughly 20 miles north of that. This is almost the whole area that the storm took in. This area is called the Brockville area by Ontario Hydro.

Friday morning there was a meeting at C.J.'s banquet hall. Extra assistance was called in. P.U.C. crews were called, too. The workers were told that they were not to work anymore than 16 hours at a time. The workers from Brockville were divided up. Each one of these workers was given a group of people from out of town--8 or 10 guys. Meek was assigned to 6 guys from Kirkland Lake and 2 guys from Newmarket. Two of the men cut trees and the others maintained the power lines. The people from out of town stayed in hotels in Brockville. They had no power in their hotels for at least the first 2 or 3 nights. They ate wherever they could pick stuff up. A lot of restaurants were cooking with gas.

Meek worked mostly in Athens once he was assigned. They followed 2 O.P.P. officers around all night. All they did was clear wires. It was really dangerous because there were a lot of people who thought they could clear/cut the wires without asking. He says there was one hydro worker in Kingston that fell off a pole. He hurt his back. There were no injuries in Brockville. Meek says he is surprised there weren't. A lot of people were cutting corners. They felt the need to pitch in.

Meek says his crew followed safety procedures. They were really careful. This was not the time to cut corners because of the environment and because there were so many generators out there. He says generators are more dangerous than hydro wires. They work in reverse. You think there's no power in the lines but there is.

Management decided which area Meek and his crew was to work in first. He was from Athens so he would know the area. He was sent there first. He says management was good.

It was not difficult getting the supplies that were needed. Poles were coming from Texas and California.

As far as Meek is concerned, everything worked well. He got explicit orders to start at the two retirement homes and the medical centre. Things were prioritized down from there.

Meek feels that the hydro helicopters flying around the area were not as beneficial as they could have been. He says it would have been helpful to have a line worker in the helicopters to identify areas as opposed to management.

Meek says he worked around 32 or 33 days without a day off. These were 16 hour days at first. At his own home, he was only without power for the first 4 days. His house is fed off the same line as the medical centre.

Meek says 99% of the community responded well to the hydro workers during the storm. People brought them coffee and offered the use of equipment.

Ontario Hydro has been working 10 hour days, including Saturdays and Sundays, until May 4, 1998 doing storm repair work. There are still lots of cottages without power.