Remembering the scramble for power in Icicle Hell
T
he Ice Storm that pounded eastern Ontario and western Quebec 10 years ago this month has become the stuff of legends. A Jan. 5 freezing rain turned into icicle hell as it continued for five days, leaving some areas without power for almost four weeks and many farmers scrambling for generators to milk their cows and draw water. Branches and entire trees crumpled to the ground. You could hear the incessant cracking of tree branches in the forest like ominous cries of destruction.As catastrophes do, this one brought out the heroes. Farmers stretched two-hour milking days into seven to help neighbours. Teenagers pumped water from basements. Neighbours used chainsaws to cut out David Shaw’s roadway near Kemptville so that he could bring water to his beef animals. Families with hot water became community drop-in centres for folks in need of a shower. Entire families slept in front of the fireplace or wood stove after playing cards and board games. For the first time, pick-up trucks hauled more generators than they hauled dogs.
Dalkeith beef farmer Allan McCaskill’s plight was typical in an atypical time. He was 75-years-old and had 32 cows back then in dire need of water. He tried attaching a chainsaw to drive his water pump. "It worked but the fumes almost choked him," recalled his wife Murial. He pulled out his heavy-duty self-propelled John Deere rotary tiller. After a lot of tinkering the water began pumping. Pails were used to haul water to the animals. A friend drove up from St. Catharines to help.
By Jan. 13, their three-year-old grandson Daryl woke up with a plan. Said Murial: "I still remember the day he came down to the table and said ‘Let’s pray.’"
That afternoon the army arrived with a generator, while the entire province was sold out. Flashlights and batteries were almost as scarce. Chainsaws and Colemen stoves flew off store shelves.
Like many farmers, the McCaskills bought a generator the first chance they got. "We have it as a precaution for the next ice storm."
Families like this revived confidence in the resilence of man. Allan McCaskill is now 85 and still farming. "Yesterday, he was out fighting with the garage door, " Murial said. "The wind was trying to blow it away."
Within a month of the Ice Storm, piling winter ice caused more than 20 barn roofs to implode across Eastern Ontario. Fifteen cows died when the roof caved in at Thurler’s farm near Brinston, south of Winchester.
The storm plunged 600,000 people in Ontario into darkness and brought every small town and hamlet in the way to its knees in what one man called the Triangle of Doom. An estimated 10,000 farms in eastern Ontario recorded losses of about $11 million. Deadstock dealers saw business spike by 20 per cent. For a short time, the most commonly asked question across the Ottawa Valley was: "Got your power back?"
What had happened was freakish. Northern cold air collided with southern warm air and the abnormally high amount of falling rain froze instantly as it landed along a corridor east of Montreal to Muskoka and south to Kingston.
In 50 years from now it will still be seen as the biggest weather event in Canadian history, said Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips. He notes two things about the event: it could have been worse and it could happen again.