Lawrence Heights hit hard by the storm

[attach]7372[/attach]While many areas of the city were hit hard by outages caused by the ice storm on Dec. 21, Lawrence Heights was among the worst, with most of the Toronto Community Housing neighbourhood being out for five days.

Cather Crescent resident Sezar Samin had to take his family of seven to a hotel on the night of Dec. 22.

“I have a big family so I could do it only for one night,” he said. “I was hopeful maybe the power would be back the next day, but we didn’t have power.”

Power was not restored until late on Dec. 26.

Samin said the outage was hardest on his 4-year-old daughter, who couldn’t handle having to wear two jackets, be wrapped in blankets and sit still the majority of the time.

Meals were prepared on a 12-inch charcoal grill, which Samin admitted made it difficult to make eggs for everyone in the mornings.

Franchesca Barry, a 32-year-old mother of three, and her husband, were living in the Lawrence Heights Community Centre as of Dec. 28, after having been powerless for a week.

Despite going back and forth from her sister’s place in North York for the first few days and then moving into the warming centre, she still remained in good spirits.

“You have to be for the children,” she said. “If you’re down, they’re going to be down as well.”

The Amaranth Court resident was mostly looking forward to being able to go back home to relax in her own bed, but also so her kids, ages 8, 4 and 20 months, could finally unwrap their Christmas presents.

Though her kids are too young to understand what’s been happening and are treating it more like a vacation, Barry says she sees it as a learning experience.

“Be prepared,” she said. “Have your batteries, your flashlights, everything, you know? That’s all I can say.”

Samin, who experienced the major power outages following floodding during the summer, says he is hopeful the outages are behind them, but he also fears what may lie ahead.

“Every little storm now we freak out about if the power’s going to go out,” he said. “I can’t afford to live anywhere else, so what can I do?”