IceStorm 98 Study

Ross Walker says that he began to appreciate the scope of the event on Wednesday morning at 2:00am when he got up for road inspection -- he "realized we were in big trouble". RW's crew had sanded and salted the night before and things looked good, but by 3:30am his crew was mobile peeling ice off the pavement with a backhoe and grader. Both units were out peeling the major roads and all roads were open by Friday. It was a matter of trees, power lines and poles and of clearing the roads to keep passage open. There were roughly 80% of the trees down at that time and the rest came down with the wind on Thursday. Ross Walker says that he worked 14 hours on the first shift with three plows, the grader and backhoe. The plows could not do a whole lot with 2.5 inches of ice which was well-adhered to the pavement, the rain went to blue ice upon contact and then the cold weather and sleet, snow and rain really did the big damage by the latter part of Friday. The Reeve jumped on the bandwagon and began getting generators as power began failing all over the place. By Friday all the main roads were open, and RW's crew was working on the side roads and the river road. Ross Walker made use of 15 army guys and chain saws and put them to work on one kilometer along the river -- it took about 2.5 hours to do that one section.

Ross Walker says that he did not think about calling the Reeve, he just went and did his thing. Ross Walker says that by Friday morning there were fire people out doing door to door checks, and Ross Walker says it was dangerous work because of the falling trees. Ross Walker says that they shut down the house to house checks until the rain stopped and the trees stopped falling. That was one of the key elements -- though basically the township was in good shape. Ross Walker says that his communication network stayed up and functioned well, even though the county system went down. His own units maintained contact with each other, and with the fire hall.

Ross Walker says that at no time was he challenged as to his authority or decisions: "Everybody just went and did their thing." Ross Walker says that the army was a big help, they did quite a bit of brushing and opening up of roads. The army arrived on Friday and then more arrived on Saturday. They were useful for getting stuff off the roads and into the ditch line. Ross Walker says he felt sorry for the Hydro guys cause their job was so big, RW's men did what they could to help the hydro guys.

Ross Walker says that their first priority was the 911 system which required "some roadability" and Ross Walker says his people knew who needed what in terms of dialysis and so forth. So the main roads were done first and the secondary roads were done according to who was most vulnerable and where they were located. Ross Walker says that he has two full-time, two part time and one volunteer staff. Ross Walker says he is responsible for 77 kilometers of road some of which is "billy goat country." People just turned out to help, not asking for money -- one lad donated his 4x4 to the township. There was "a lot of that give." Ross Walker says that he even had to sand some driveways so that emergency vehicles could get in -- people with emergency health problems. Ross Walker says that he did not even talk with the Reeve until Thursday -- that the Reeve did his thing and Ross Walker and his people did theirs. There was no coordination "we had our ass pretty well covered." They did everything they were supposed to do, even removing hydro lines from the road without waiting for permission. Ross Walker says they had to get people moving -- that was their priority. Ross Walker says that the cold weather actually stabilized the situation -- that another six hours of rain would have meant "deep deep trouble" more than double the cost of cleaning up the township. Ross Walker says that it was dangerous enough as it was with all the ice on the trees -- that he advised not cutting trees loaded down with ice.

Ross Walker says he does not recall having his first meeting with the Reeve, that it's kind of a blank. In any event, he did not need to be told what to do, he's been road superintendent for 8 years then many previous years as a contractor. Ross Walker says his crew reached into Escott to open up some of their roads, but it took them longer (Ross Walker does not know why).

Ross Walker says "budget doesn't mean a thing -- in a situation like this you do what you have to do and do it." Ross Walker says that the shelter and coordination between departments worked well, everyone was of the same opinion and worked together well. "It was a 'we' operation." There was also good cooperation with the army and the best thing they did was surveillance of people in the township to find out who's where and how they're doing. The army did at least two house to house rounds and worked on the roads as well. The township sent one volunteer with the army guys, complete with maps so that everyone knew where they were going.

Ross Walker says that he found nothing negative in the experience -- that if he had to do it again they would know to have access to generators and gas. Ross Walker says that they don't normally have gas in their yard -- they do now -- and they are in the process of getting a generator. Ross Walker says they will now carry gas for the roads department, about 300 gallons. Ross Walker says he has recommended that there be a generator available for the municipal office with a plug in so that it will be easy to keep the main office running. Ross Walker says that another ice storm would cause trouble because the lines "are not up to par." Ross Walker says that he had to have people baby-sitting generators for Bell so that they did not go walking.

Ross Walker says fatigue was the biggest problem, he says he put in one shift of 16 hours. But they also had a work week ahead of the ice storm -- amounting to 21 days without a break, and the ice storm was the cause of the latter 16 days of work. Ross Walker says that they did not have a boom truck to cut down the hangers, that all things considered they did okay.

Ross Walker says that last year they put out about 1800 tonnes of salt and sand, this year about 2400 tonnes already. Ross Walker says that he expects more ice storms, which are more trouble than snow (which is easier to handle). Ross Walker says they use a lot of stone dust on their gravel roads, but pavement is another story.

Ross Walker says there was a lot of spontaneous lending and sharing of generators between three or four families. Ross Walker says that they have an emergency plan but that he "did not get the book open" -- the plan never contemplated a storm situation in any event. The plan is under revision at this time. But "we're not storm oriented" -- the plan (as it is) looks to other things even though accidents are quite common on the 401.

Ross Walker says that it's a double-edged ax to have people raising money for ice storm relief when it's their own relief that they're raising money for.

Ross Walker has a little bit of emergency training through the union, mostly safety aspects, and his management and safety training did prove beneficial in this emergency.

Ross Walker had no contact with the provincial emergency people except for his helicopter ride -- during which the door came open. He did get a good look at the damage in his area. Ross Walker says he was aware of the damage before he took the helicopter ride.

Ross Walker had no contact with the media. The Reeve did an "excellent, excellent job" to which people really looked forward. His commentary was informed and insightful, particularly on the question of when people were going to get power.

Ross Walker says that he was stressed but not too badly. There was a lot of cooperation between people -- and "it worked quite well." Ross Walker says he had lots of machinery and fuel, and that one of the side benefits was the opportunity to talk with people that might not have happened had the power stayed up. "There was a lot of lessons learned and people talked to one another."

Ross Walker says that people learned to cook on wood stoves and there's a lot to be said for that. Ross Walker made comparisons with the cold war preparation of going underground and so forth. He thinks that people should be educated to take care of themselves in the absence of power -- that the situation would have been much worse had the ice storm persisted another 24 hours.

Ross Walker says that his guys worked really hard and eventually got fed up with it but that he did not see much evidence of stress.

Ross Walker says the cleanup process is "the needle in your ass" and that everyone is still cleaning up and will be for a long time.

Ross Walker says his own family "done well" but that his son in Lunenburg had to evacuate to relatives. Ross Walker says his wife was climbing the walls by the end of it -- that he now believes that people understand the importance of preparing with candles and batteries. Ross Walker says that people need heat, food and water and that they should be the first things people think of. His says his wife filled the bathtub with water so that they had water to flush their toilet, and they were okay. The temperature stayed around 60 degrees and they were fine.

Ross Walker says that he estimates a final cost of around $65,000.

Ross Walker says that he thinks these ice storms should be looked at closely, that it should start with the people who work the night shifts so that the Reeves can get up and running faster. Ross Walker says that they were lucky that everyone went and did their own thing, but that may not happen next time. The townships need a weather watch that things are happening.