Wintry wallop leaves a mess
Ice, freezing rain, snow, high winds and power outages make for miserable weekend
The ice storm cometh, and went. But, thankfully in Hamilton, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been.
We went through gusty winds that toppled a real estate billboard in downtown Hamilton Saturday afternoon, injuring two pedestrians. Some lakefront residents near the foot of Green Road in Stoney Creek had to leave the area because of flooding Sunday.
Wild waves in the harbour dislodged a section of breakwall and broke some of the mooring lines for the Hamilton Harbour Queen boat. Ice and snow made driving treacherous at times and there were many power disruptions.
But there was a lot less freezing rain — the thing that can cause severe power outages and turns roads in skating rinks — in Hamilton than expected. Most of the moisture coming out of the sky landed on the ground as ice pellets, snow or rain.
“It was not as bad as we anticipated it would be,” said Alectra Utilities spokesperson Rachel Bertone. By 6 p.m. Sunday, more than 2,200 Alectra customers had experienced hydro disruptions for periods of time of up to three hours in different areas of the city because of weather-related problems.
In Stoney Creek, more than 7,700 customers had their hydro interrupted from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Saturday, but that was a supply issue and not related to the storm.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson says “We had just enough cold air
to turn those drops of water from the clouds into ice pellets before they hit the ground. If that cold air had not been there, it would have frozen on contact with the ground and we would have had a lot more freezing rain.
“The fact that we got a lot of ice pellet activity kept down the power failures. We didn’t get the ice coating the trees and the power lines. However, the ice pellets did cause slippery driving conditions right around the Golden Horseshoe.”
The highways of the Greater Toronto Area definitely got the worst of the storm. Ontario Provincial Police reported more than 700 weekend crashes on highways surrounding Toronto.
“We’ve had some serious collisions,” said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt. “And the collisions we’re being called to, they’re all preventable. Remember, poor weather conditions and poor road conditions do not cause crashes; it is poor driving and driving beyond the conditions.”
But police in Hamilton say vehicle accidents here were relatively few. Some motorists and HSR buses got stuck trying to go up the escarpment. But by Sunday afternoon, main thoroughfares had been plowed and sanded. Work on residential streets will continue Monday.
“I think the majority of the public took heed to the warnings from Environment Canada and they stayed off the roads,” Hamilton police Staff Sgt. Steve Hahn.
Dan McKinnon, the City of Hamilton’s general manager of Public Works, said “The weather affected everything, but I think it has gone better than it could have.
“We’ve had our forestry crew out responding to downed limbs and trees, but it hasn’t been terrible. We’ve also had a number of bus routes delayed as a result of an inability to get up and down the escarpment or roads being impassible.”
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said, “I think our crews have done a good job of keeping on top of this. It’s particularly difficult when you have freezing rain and ice pellets and then you
have rain on top of that.”
Environment Canada had a rainfall warning in effect overnight Sunday with an anticipated 25-35 mm falling as the storm evolves into its final phase amid warming temperatures. By Monday morning temperatures were expected to reach 5 C and “that will keep things staying as rain,” said Coulson.
The other concern overnight was continuing strong winds.
That wind — it reached up to nearly 90 km/h on the weekend — was responsible for a real estate billboard on Main Street East near Catharine Street toppling over onto two pedestrians who were walking on the sidewalk Saturday at 3 p.m.
A 58-year-old man closest to the sign was injured the most seriously. He was taken to hospital in critical condition and is now listed as stable, police say.
The other pedestrian, a 54year-old man, was closer to the street when the sign came down and was only slightly injured. He was taken to hospital for treatment and released.
Many events were cancelled over the weekend, including the Hamilton-West-Ancaster-Dundas (HWAD) PC party nomination, and exams at McMaster University, Mohawk College and Brock University.
Hamilton residents with storm-related issues can call the city at 905-546-2489.