In 1998 there as a terrible ice storm in Southern Quebec, just minutes from Montréal in the Eastern Townships. This was also in my home town and the city where our children grew up. I had just moved to Toronto, six hours away in Ontario two months before the storm. My family has no electricity for a month and some of my friends lived in areas where it lasted up to six weeks. Many towns between Toronto and Montreal were also affected and it was unsafe and recommended to not drive down. This was January 6th 1998 to early February.
I remember driving down with a friend on the highway and seeing the devastation in the woods along the way. It looked like so many areas had been bombed. It was so sad. The deer that used to come visit our family home (in a city also without hydro for a month) had no choice but to come feed on the cedar hedges in the back. It was a difficult time for residents here. I still feel remorse for not being here to help my family at that time and know that it took many years for some to recuperate from the impact of that storm.
Volunteer firefighters form the US came to help and on my way back to Toronto I remember following a line of army trucks returning to Winnipeg; they had come down to help as well.
I remember driving down with a friend on the highway and seeing the devastation in the woods along the way. It looked like so many areas had been bombed. It was so sad. The deer that used to come visit our family home (in a city also without hydro for a month) had no choice but to come feed on the cedar hedges in the back. It was a difficult time for residents here. I still feel remorse for not being here to help my family at that time and know that it took many years for some to recuperate from the impact of that storm.
Volunteer firefighters form the US came to help and on my way back to Toronto I remember following a line of army trucks returning to Winnipeg; they had come down to help as well.
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| Verglas - Québec - Ice storm |
Intense ice
storm
fauna shudder with worry
on barren land
© Tournesol `14
It is at time like this we find out how small and insignificant we are in the whole picture. We call it a freak of nature or unnatural but that is because we are complacent and fail to realize we are not in control.
ReplyDeleteSo true, I remember being on the phone every day and feeling so powerless. Friends and family describe this period as too big to imagine; on the positive side, volunteers across the continent pitching in to help was so heartwarming. Thanks so much for reading.
DeleteCertainly a beautiful phenomenon if not rather scary!
ReplyDeletebeautifully written
ReplyDeleteWinner
now following your blog
I remember that ice storm well.
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