II. Background: The January 1998 Ice Storm in Eastern Ontario

Ice storms are a common event in parts of Canada. Usually they affect a limited area and are an inconvenience for a day or two, mainly because of icy roads. The January 1998 Ice Storm was unprecedented both in the amount of freezing rain that fell and in geographic extent.

“From January 4th, 1998, to the 10th, Canada’s attention was focused on the development of a meteorological pattern that would eventually be dubbed the worst ever (ice storm) to hit Canada in recent history. The total water equivalent of precipitation, which fell mainly as freezing rain but also as ice pellets and snow, exceeded 73 mm in Kingston, 85 mm in Ottawa and 100 mm in areas south of Montreal. (see Figure 1) By comparison, the largest previous recorded ice storms, that of December 1986 in Ottawa and February 1961 in Montreal, left some 30 to 40 mm of ice, less than half the thickness of the 1998 storm.

As weather conditions unfolded, few understood how far reaching an effect this storm would have on our society: many regular social and economic activities were brought to a halt, necessary day-to-day routines became either impossible or difficult to conduct, human and animal life became endangered. Some 100,000 people had to take refuge in shelters. The sense of urgency, and that of solidarity, grew at a speed only equal to that of the damage left in the wake of the subsequent storm cells. Today, our society is still dealing with the aftermath of the storm.” The St. Lawrence River Valley 1998 Ice Storm: Maps and Facts, Statistics Canada, 1998

In Eastern Ontario more than 600,000 people out of a population of 1,200,000 were without power, some for up to three weeks. Whole communities found themselves in the dark.

Electrical and public works crews responded first to the Emergency, repairing downed power lines and removing fallen tree limbs from roads and power lines. Many businesses and factories were shut down to keep people off the roads and residents began the chore of surviving without electricity.

For many, no electricity and downed communications infrastructure also meant no heat, no lights, no TV or radio, no telephone, no water, and a flooding basement. With roads and sidewalks covered with ice, obtaining food and other supplies such as batteries and flashlights (if stores still had some), was difficult.

Emergency workers were faced with a situation that would get worse before it would get better. Poor communications and bad weather hampered efforts to determine the extent of the damage. Added to this was the difficulty of getting people outside the affected area to understand the real impact of the storm:

“Emergency Measures Ontario did not have a complete feel for the storm from January 7th – 11th. Throughout the disaster it was difficult to track the precise situation in Eastern Ontario from Toronto. Only someone there could be sure of the local situation.” Joe Scanlon, Ottawa-Carleton and the 1998 Ice Storm: Sharing the Lessons Learned, Draft Report for RMOC, pg.27

A worker from the City of Kingston kept saying to her husband (who was in Toronto), in an attempt to get him to come home “You don’t know what it’s like. It’s not an ordinary ice storm.”

Fortunately, it was a disaster with little trauma, and relatively few lives were lost. Many people did suffer however. Especially the poor and infirm who are least capable of looking after themselves; and farmers, who had difficulty watering livestock and milking dairy cows. But for most people, living without electricity amounted to an enormous inconvenience.

The storm brought out the best in people and communities pulled together to look after themselves.

Volunteers quickly became the backbone of the emergency response (particularly in the rural areas), doing door-to-door checks, working at shelters, driving people where they needed to go, and obtaining and delivering supplies. Volunteer firefighters and others drove around the countryside with generators to water livestock and pump out flooded basements.

“I think if God had a purpose for this storm I think it was to make us not look inwardly at ourselves, [but] to help other people, and to bring people together…make us a bit more caring. We had friends helping friends and strangers helping strangers.”
Bruce Wylie, CFJR Radio, Brockville

“I think the success of what we got through and how we got through this was people helping people, as much and in some cases more than emergency services. Because we [emergency workers] didn’t even know what was going on in a lot of cases.”
Glenn Gow, Fire Chief, City of Kingston

Emergency responders worked tirelessly, often in cold, wet, snowy conditions. For many it was a very positive experience:

“…[the ice storm] was the most exciting experience of our lives.”
Kevin Collins, Bell Canada

“It was a great deal of fun. It was like being away at summer camp. We were literally all living together.”
Cheryl Mastantuono, City of Kingston

“[From an emergency management experience point of view] it was great. It was fabulous. It’s the only way to go. There’s nothing like being a part of it…to be in that, you can’t buy that kind of experience. You can’t go to enough courses to learn that.”
Warren Leonard, Toronto Police Service, City of Toronto

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I was very, very fortunate and lucky, I think to have been part of it, particularly what we did [door to door checks].”
Bob Napier, Staff Sergeant, City of Kingston Police

“I have said to many people that this was the most exhilarating time in my presidency. It’s very rare that a university president can tell someone to do something and it gets done right away.”
Bill Legett, Principal Queen’s University, Kingston

“I’ve been with different governments, federal and provincial for 34 years. That’s probably the first adrenaline rush I ever had. There was so much happening and it was so gratifying…that you were helping somebody that was beyond helping themselves”.
Wayne Brydges, Ministry of Transportation, Kingston

While emergency workers were out trying to keep others safe and healthy, their families were at home trying to cope without them, which added to the stress on the workers, many of whom returned to a cold, dark house after working long shifts.

Some residents had few difficulties, even treating it like an adventure, “camping out” in their living rooms in front of the fireplace. But the effects were very different for others:

“From one side of the street to another would often be a totally different story. Glenn Gow recalled one man who came into number 1 station more than once during the storm for help with problems at home. ‘His wife was bedridden, and his basement was flooded, but they wouldn’t leave their house. Until it collapsed they weren’t going to leave their house, that was all there was to it ... He had generators, but we went up and did an oil change for him on it at one point. Like most other people, he didn’t know you had to change the oil on the generators; you can’t leave them running, you’ve got to go out and do those kinds of things or you end up blowing them out, which we had many, many blown throughout the community ... Anyway, he came out on I think it was day three or four. His neighbour across the street started talking about how pretty it was, and he immediately broke down and cried in front of his neighbour across the street. This neighbour never even understood why he was so emotional about what had just happened. For three days, having to bail his basement out and having to try to keep his wife warm in the bedroom, coming down to the fire hall to get drinking water. He just didn’t understand.’”
from the interview with Glenn Gow, Fire Chief, City of Kingston

“[The ice storm] divided the world into those who could cope and those who couldn’t, and the doctors among them…there were the helpers and the helped. And we all received help. That’s always good.”
Dr. Ruth Wilson, Family Medicine Centre, Kingston

Shelter workers were upset seeing people who already had a lot of stress in their lives, trying to cope with so much more than usual:

“That kind of weighs heavy even if you’re helping them. You can’t make it go away, you can only help them. So that was stressful, too, after the fact.”
Adelle LaFrance, City of Kingston

There were people living better at the shelters than they live on a daily basis. The last people to leave the shelters in Kingston were the homeless. A number of people (especially seniors) commented on how much better the food was at the shelters than at home.

That residents of eastern Ontario got through the disaster as well as they did is also due in large part to the resources that came from outside.

The Canadian Armed Forces deployed 15,000 troops to storm stricken areas in Canada, the largest peace-time deployment in Canadian history. Troops set up communications networks, supplied generators, ran warehouses, cleared debris from roads, did door-to-door checks, and helped at shelters.

Hydro and forestry crews came from across Canada and the United States, many not charging for their services or the use of their equipment. Electrical wire came from as far away as Texas and hydro poles were shipped from British Columbia and California.

Eastern Ontario and other areas hit hard by the ice storm will be a long time recovering. Workers are still fatigued and flickering lights continue to make people nervous. Hopefully people and organizations are now better prepared to deal with the next big emergency. The lessons presented here are intended to help other communities become better prepared as well.