Ice storm left area looking like ‘war zone’
[attach]7371[/attach]In the aftermath of the ice storm that left a quarter of a million Torontonians without power, unique stories are emerging from the hardest hit areas of midtown.
“It looked kind of like a war zone,” said Castlefield Avenue resident Jeff Ware, who counted seven downed power lines on his street just between Avenue Road and Yonge Street alone.
“I came out to get some food and coffee on the Sunday morning [Dec. 22], and literally could not drive out of our neighbourhood because there were trees down everywhere, and power lines,” he said. “I tried every direction on every street but couldn’t get out, so I went home, parked the car and set out on foot.
“I was dodging trees and electrical wires to get the coffees, which is kind of a sad state of affairs,” he added with a laugh.
Ware had been out celebrating his father’s 70th birthday on Dec. 21 when the storm hit, and when he returned home, at about 11 p.m., the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
The power went out in the middle of the night.
Ware said he and his family probably could’ve toughed it out like other families did, but they had a unique situation that made them think otherwise.
“My wife is due on Jan. 20 — our second baby — and no electricity, no hot water is not a great option for her, and we also have a 2-year-old boy,” he said.
Ware said his parents live in a condo building that has rental units, so he rented one until the worst was over.
At 7:30 on Christmas morning Ware headed back home in a cab, to start up the gas fireplace and prepare so his son could open presents at home.
“Fortunately, the power was on,” he said. “So when my wife and son arrived a few hours later, the place was all lit up, we had heat and music and the fireplace going.”
Ware said he had his wife took their son upstairs so he could set up the tree and presents, and then filmed his son coming downstairs.
“It was pretty funny,” he said. “As soon as I walked in the door, a light snow started to fall. “It was kind of like a movie: ‘Cue snow now, everyone around the fireplace, open presents!’”
While things worked out well for Ware and his family, for others the experience was a bit scarier.
Cabbagetown resident Peter Gardiner, who grew up in North Toronto, was at Sunnybrook Hospital with wife Jennifer and their newborn son, Cole, when the facility lost power.
“Our son had jaundice, so he had light therapy treatment, but because the power went out they couldn’t power the machine he was using,” said Gardiner. “It was a little bit scary.”
Nurses eased his concern by explaining that, while the machine treating Cole was plugged into a main plug, there was a generator to back up power.
But then, “in the middle of the night,” the generator went out too.
“There was no power, just darkness, which was completely freaky and scary for multiple reasons,” Gardiner said.
Though that outage lasted only about an hour, he said it was something he never expected.
“I was very surprised that there was a complete power outage for even 30 seconds, let alone the better part of an hour,” he said. “It’s terrifying to think if you were in a different circumstance or scenario it could’ve been extremely detrimental or harmful.”
While feeling “blessed and lucky” to have weathered the situation, he said he also felt “a little bit scared that could happen at a hospital.”
Sunnybrook’s power came back in full on Dec. 23, and Gardiner, along with his wife and newborn son, went home the next day.