The Ice Storm

Watching the weather channel yesterday was an alarming experience. They were predicting freezing rain across the Great Lakes, on into Quebec and the eastern provinces.

I ran the last, okay not last but most important, of my errands on Thursday while the roads were still clear.

My son has been without power for almost 24 hours, but as he heats his house with a wood stove, he’s nice and warm. My daughter lost power during the night last night. If you triangulate our three homes we cover quite an area, between the two neighbouring towns and the rural.

I have had power outages off and on since yesterday afternoon, but never out for more than an hour. The rain has been steady and the temperatures below freezing. The trees may look like a winter wonderland, but they are deadly.

I would have thought I was in a war zone last night for the crashing and banging going on outside. There is one very tall tree about 10 feet from the side of my place, and old tree, and it decided last night it was time to shed some excess.

 

The pounding on my roof was scary, I expected at any time for a limb to come crashing through the roof. I heard a report this morning of a friend who had a tree branch crash through her roof into her shower. Like I said…scary.

I look out at my neighbourhood, not brave enough to try walking on the icy path, and see trees down everywhere. There will be a major cleanup required, but so far everyone seems to be safe and sound.

This is just a small bit of weather misery, and as I sit here I can’t help but think it’s so minor, so nothing compared to what other people around the world have faced, and are facing today. The wreckage of downed trees is nothing compared to the wreckage of complete houses, entire neighbourhoods.

We watch the news, see the pictures, but they can never depict the true horror these people are suffering. My heart goes out to them.

If the power is still out tomorrow we’ll have to delay our Christmas dinner as planned. I’m the only one with power and my place is too small for the more than 10 of us. We can have our celebration another day if need be. The important thing is we’re all safe.

I’ve checked in with friends and family, hoping all have weathered yet another Canadian winter storm. It’s still raining and the trees are starting to lean with the weight of ice on their branches.

Hang in there, it’s not over yet.