On Sunday morning we awoke to see that nature had been very hard at work overnight and had coated everything in a layer of ice.
This one night would leave more than 300,000 homes in the city without power. As of this morning, (Tuesday), more than 100,000 are still without. This is at no fault of the hydro company as they are working very hard. There are even 42 hydro workers coming from Manitoba, giving up their Christmases to help out. There is a lot for them to do because the damage was so bad. People have been told not to expect to be reconnected for a couple more days, which means no heat or lights for Christmas.
Many old trees have lost branches or broken completely under the weight of the ice, and street wires are down in many places.
People living in a Home for the Aged were moved, and people are being asked to check in with the elderly neighbours. Warnings have been issued about the lethal effects of trying to heat homes with fire, coal and gas appliances, which are not meant for indoor use. Even a major hospital was left without electricity.
With such hardship going on around us, I feel guilty saying that the only way in which we were negatively effected is that we became completely housebound on Sunday, because everything was slick with ice out there.
So we cancelled plans to go out for dinner and Nick made some pasta. We shared a bottle of wine, listened to music, Nick wrapped gifts while I stayed upstairs, we watched a movie on Netflix, and waited it out. By Monday morning it had pretty well cleared up where we live. We really just got lucky and are thankful for that.
