Recovery’s been tough job

[attach]7349[/attach]Much of midtown Toronto — including in Leaside, Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park — was hit hard by the power outage that left some 300,000 Torontonians in the dark following a massive ice storm on Dec. 21.

Almost all homes in the city had their power restored by New Year’s Eve.

Local councillor John Parker told the Town Crier in a Dec. 30 phone interview that he was still receiving emails from constituents who did not have their power back, but acknowledged “it’s entirely possible that the people whose messages I’m returning right
now have already had their power restored.”

Parker also said a lot of people were frustrated to discover they could not have their power restored by Toronto Hydro, due to damaged connections.

“Toronto Hydro can only restore service up to the point of connection to the individual homes, and if the connection itself is damaged, or if the domestic service is damaged, it’s up to the homeowner to get that restored before hydro can reconnect,” he said. “That came as bitter news to some people.”

While the majority of homes have now had power restored, the damage from the ice storm is still present. An estimate from the city suggested Toronto lost 20 percent of its tree canopy.

In Leaside, many of the electrical wires were brought down by large branches, which then blocked access to the fallen wires. Emergency crews often spent a significant amount of time clearing branches before they could begin to work on restoring power.

While some residences had a single wire down or needed power restored to only one wire, others were impacted by major equipment failure, impacting entire blocks.

“That explains the experience that people on Rumsey, Airdrie and Astor went through,” Parker said. “The fault was at a centralized piece of equipment that had to be replaced before power could be restored to any of them.”

After a transformer on Airdrie Road blew on Dec. 21, residents of Airdrie, Rumsey Road and Astor Avenue were in the dark for more than a week.

The threat of radiators and water pipes bursting was also a concern for homeowners here.

Parker spoke highly of the crews who worked throughout the holidays, and said it’s welcome news that the worst is over.

“Within a week, the recovery efforts had been mobilized, people worked around the clock and, one way or another, we muddled our way through and things are pretty much back in operating condition now,” he said. “So there’s something inspiring in that, in spite of the frustrations, challenges and hardships some people endured.”