Ice Storm 2013

Such a unique experience going on a walk and observing the plants completely frozen in time. Fringes of icicles lined our patio furniture, making it truly picturesque.

December 22nd, 2013 made history as one of southern Ontario's most devastating natural events to date. It began overnight, as the rain fell right at freezing temperature. The water droplets froze directly on contact with all exposed surfaces, leaving a thick coating of ice absolutely everywhere.

Overnight, loud cracks and glassshattering noises were heard one after the other. Electricity quickly started to dissappear all over the city and in surroinding areas. We woke up to a disaster. Hundreds of trees began to break under the enourmous weight of the thick layer of ice, which immediately shattered as it fell to the ground. Roads were covered in branches and power lines were snapped and stretched from the fallen trees.

Due to the lack of maintenance crew in our area, neighbours began to break up and remove the branches blocking off the side streets. Electricity in our area was lost from December 21st at 9pm until the morning of December 27th.

The only visible light in the evenings was from cars, casting an eerie darkness lasting for nearly one week. Dispite the cold and lack of electronics, things weren't that bad. My home experienced no major damage and plans were reshuffled to warmer places. We fortunately had family members unaffected by the outage and had places to stay on and around Christmas.

These situations serve to remind us of the things that are truly important, especially around the holidays. I definitely developed a new appreciation for handy things like gas powered stoves and barbecues.
All we have to endure now is this never ending "polar vortex"... Mother Nature never fails to keep us on our toes.

Madeline,
xx