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Shelburne Free Press https://shelburnefreepress.ca/?p=17153 Export date: Tue Jul 23 9:24:51 2024 / +0000 GMT |
How did you survive the ice storm? Our houses have conveniences our pioneer forefathers could only dream of: running water, heat and light at the flick of a switch. If you can't be bothered to cook, there are a number of restaurants in town that you can eat at. So, when the power went out on Thursday, Shelburnites, including myself, reverted to a pioneer existence. Except that, unlike the pioneers, we did not have a winter's worth of preserved food, we didn't have a well and there were no oil lamps. So, how did you Survive the storm? That is a question I asked several people in Shelburne and communities a little to the south and north of us. While speaking with Lorie Harrington, who lives to the south of Shelburne in Amaranth, she still hadn't got her power back when we were interviewing her. “Thankfully, we have a wood stove so we were plenty warm, could boil water and made grilled cheese!,” she tells us. “We have no water, so we get buckets from the pond and from the sump pump hole for flushing toilets. I had to go to my son's house on Saturday for a shower. They had just got their power back. “On Sunday we hooked up the generator because the rain was a little worrisome. We took turns plugging in the freezer and the sump pump, however all the food from the fridge freezer thawed and had to be tossed.” When asked if it affected her at work she replied, “With the holidays it didn't affect me at work. High County Veterinary Services had power on Saturday while I worked, and Sunday, when they were closed, I needed to come in and recharge my iPad and our lantern.” Then, while right in the middle of the interview, Lorie explodes with “Just got word my power came back on.” Which was followed by a bunch of happy dance emoticons. When asked how long her power was out she replies, “Ninety hours.” Lorie also tell us that there is quite a bit of cleanup that will be required on her property, and that this is a good opportunity for her to be better prepared if there is a next time. Right in Shelburne, Lyndsay Morgan tells us “We played scrabble by candlelight before going to bed. We were lucky we have a gas fireplace but it's downstairs so we had to crank it to heat the whole house. “We put ice from the deck in containers in the freezer on Friday when stuff was starting to thaw and went for a drive to Orangeville to eat some breakfast and it was so busy that we waited in a lineup outside for thirty minutes before we were seated.” Lyndsay says they were without power for 20 hours. On a family vacation in Florida, Mairi MacRae owner of At Home Reality Inc Brokerage, who lives in town, missed the entire storm. However, she told us “My neighbours kept me informed by sending photos of our yard and my car.” “We didn't cut our vacation short, but did come home to a mess and a tree on my car,” she says. “When we got home on Sunday, our hydro was already back on. We had a ton of family and friends check our house for damage. Everyone has been so helpful. Even with the tree, there are only five dents; one that is significant, [but] it could have been way worse.” Owner of Prim Pickins' Jamie-Lee Higginson lives just north of Shelburne in Melancthon and survived the storm by hooking up her generator. “We have an ample amount of extension cords from my business, so we plugged in the necessities – the fridge and the freezer,” Jamie-Lee tells us. “We have a good wood stove for heat. Thankfully our in-laws are close by [in Flesherton] and they had power the entire time. Our kids spent the entire time there while we made frequent trips back to our house to check the fire, pets and generator. “Our hydro was out from Thursday afternoon until Sunday night. We did have tree damage and unfortunately we lost a few good mature trees but nothing hit the building or vehicles. Not having hydro for a few days definitely put me behind on orders, so I am going to need to work twice as hard this week to try and catch up. We live in a great area and have fantastic neighbours. If we [needed] anything they were right there to help.” Updates about what was going on in different parts of Shelburne could continuously be found on Shelburne Area Q&A and Resource Hub page on Facebook, from when hydro was coming back on in different areas of Shelburne, to offers to lend generators and some people even offered to take others reptiles to keep them warm. When out in Shelburne early on Friday, the after effects of the storm could be seen everywhere. Neighbours could be seen helping other neighbours cut down broken branches, collecting and dragging them to the curb. Local business Stump Busters started bright and early chipping any branches that had been put to curbs. Jamie, owner of Stump Busters, told us “We are starting clean up on William Street first in order to allow the Fire Department a clear road if there is a call where they are needed. From there we plan on heading over to James Street to clear around Dufferin Oaks in case there are any emergencies there. From there we plan on going street by street chipping anything left curb side.” When asked how this compared to the storm three years ago in Brampton, which Jamie helped to clean up, Jamie replied “This is way worse in my opinion. Brampton had a lot of tree rot so the trees came down much easier as they were already dead. These trees were perfectly good. It's devastating.” Despite it all, somehow with help from neighbours and friends, we all survived, and are probably a little stronger and more resourceful than we were a last week. By Michelle Janzen |
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Post date: 2016-04-01 11:16:30 Post date GMT: 2016-04-01 15:16:30 Post modified date: 2016-04-09 01:31:10 Post modified date GMT: 2016-04-09 05:31:10 |
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