Lessons learned from last year’s devastating ice storm

Communities across Simcoe County are reflecting on the impact of last year’s ice storm and what’s been learned.

It’s been almost one full year since last spring’s unforgettable ice storm that gripped the county.

Tens of thousands of people were stuck with out power for days in Simcoe and Muskoka. Towns and cities were crippled by Mother Nature’s extreme powers.

“Trees were uprooted and everything else - it was just unreal,” says Orval Hutchinson with Hutchinson Maple Syrup.

Hutchinson has operated his Maple Syrup farm in Oro-Medonte for years. He lost close to 1,000 lines during the ice storm. After a long battle with insurance he was able to recover about two/thirds of his loses. He spent 13 days without power at all.

“It was just a tough go for everybody,” says Hutchinson.

That pain was felt by communities and even the county. Today county council received a report highlighting recommendations to how to best prepare and deal with a potential similar incident.

“We’ve been able to add some more resources to our emergency management team. All 16 local municipalities, the county and the province have a much smoother flow of information when we are looking for assistance or trying to get help into an area,” says Grant Durfey, manager of emergency management with the County of Simcoe.

There are 32 identified actions in the new report. The county has just completed a survey from residents looking for input on how to deal with similar incidents moving forward.

“Our ability to shelter people in a disaster, so things like cots and other associated supplies, where if people lose their homes we can get them very quickly to a spot set up for them to have a safe place to sleep, eat, drink, charge their phone, get information, whatever they need to do,” says Durfey.

Oro-Medonte was one of the hardest hit spots in the region. Its fire chief says it too has gained great knowledge after receiving roughly 25 per cent of its average annual calls in a four-day period.

“Nothing really prepares you for an actual real world event and the takeaways that we did receive from that were really unmeasurable,” says Chief Roree Payment with Oro-Medonte Fire.

Payment says his department has made many changes following the storm including a move to add chain saws to all fire vehicles just in case.