Braving the spring freeze
Hydro outages for 44,000 customers, transit tie-ups, flooding all result from wicked weekend
When Caterina Gennaro’s power flickered Sunday night during high velocity winds, she charged her devices and made a cup of tea — a wise choice because a half-hour later, at 9 p.m., she had no electricity at all.
“Before I finished that cup of tea, there was a bang and then I looked out my window and I saw a tree on fire,” said Gennaro, an author who lives near the Queensway and Windermere Ave., adding it appeared to be a large branch, not a full tree.
Emergency responders arrived shortly after to put out the fire, she said, but she was still without power. Using the light from her iPad, she placed a jug of vinegar on top, creating a makeshift lamp.
“It was pretty cold,” Gennaro added. “I basically put on layers and layers of clothing. I slept in a hoody and pants. I had three blankets, plus my winter coat on top of me, so I stayed pretty warm throughout the night, but as soon as I poked my head out, it was freezing.”
A Toronto Hydro spokesperson said 44,000 customers experienced power outages from 6 p.m. on Sunday until 3 a.m. on Monday.
By Monday afternoon, that figure was down to 8,300 customers, said Tori Gass, clarifying customers means meters, not people. Toronto Hydro are targeting smaller outages scattered around the city, meaning that reconnecting power will be a slower process, Gass said.
The freak storm was relentless in Toronto over the weekend and into Monday, affecting most facets of daily life.
Numerous delays were reported on the TTC and GO Transit Monday morning, with a section of Line 1 down for almost three and a half hours. Ontario Provincial Police reported “numerous reports” of flooding on Greater Toronto Area highways.
STORM from GT1
The mix of snow, freezing rain, ice pellets, rain and powerful winds made driving treacherous, with OPP reporting more than 1,450 non-fatal crashes over the two days.
Toronto Fire said they experienced a higher than normal call volume, with calls up 437 per cent during the midnight to 8 a.m. period. Since the beginning of the storm, Toronto Fire Crews responded 3,222 times to 1,330 separate incidents over the weekend, as of Monday afternoon, and 311 Toronto received 3,115 calls for assistance with tree damage, hydro and updates on community activities or classes — an increase of 273 per cent over the previous week. Of those calls, 534 were solely tree-related. A full tree cleanup is expected to be finished Wednesday.
Dr. Chris McKillop’s power went out in her home near Eglinton Ave. W. and Dufferin St. around 7 p.m. on Sunday, but she was prepared for it with battery-powered lanterns and wireless chargers for her devices. It was an on-again-off-again affair, with power intermittently returning, she said.
“Unfortunately I left my bedroom lights on without knowing, so at 2:30 in the morning they came back on,” she said. “I opened the whisky, have (sic) the ice cream that’s melting in the fridge, get some chocolate and make the best of it.”
A preliminary summary by Environment Canada of the dramatic weather the storm produced since early Saturday said the city had ice pellets beating down upon it for 18 total hours by Sunday night. Added to that was 10 hours of rain and six additional hours of freezing rain. They said the total water equivalent measured at Pearson Airport was 71.6 mm, and that the icy slush was as deep as 12 cm in parts of the city.
In the struggle to clear the roads and make them safe, 6,940 tonnes of salt had been used as of early Monday.
On Monday afternoon, as the temperature rose, the city was dealing with the effects of the thaw. Authorities warned com- muters to be cautious of potentially hazardous roads and highways, and homeowners were encouraged to clear drainage basins to prevent potential flooding.
At Pearson Airport, where more than 600 flights were cancelled Sunday — approximately 35 per cent of all flights that day, according to a spokesperson — authorities had cancelled 125 flights on Monday, with the airport adjusting for heavy passenger overload and backlog of baggage and flights to be rescheduled after the weekend madness.
Ice blocks dropping off roofs were also of concern, leading to the closure of the CN Tower and the cancellation of Monday night’s Blue Jays’ game at the Rogers Centre, as well as a section of Yonge St. near College. St. Toronto MPP Mike Colle barely evaded a chunk of ice Monday morning that fell from the top of Queen’s Park, he said. He estimated it to be about six feet by three feet, roughly as tall as him.
“I’m carefully coming to work, and I’m about to enter the side door of Queen’s Park and even before I can take a breath, there, a big slab of ice comes off the side of the building and woof, bang, right in front of me,” he said. “If I had not stopped for an orange light at Spadina and Harbord, I don’t know what would have happened to me this morning. I think my guardian angel was with me.”
Environment Canada’s rainfall warning for the city of Toronto has finally come to an end. The weather agency reported that rain was expected to taper off over the course of the day. They say the heaviest precipitation is moving east of the city, but we could see rainfall amounts from 20 mm to 30 mm by the time it’s over, making flooding a concern.