One year later, effects of massive ice storm still being felt

A man shovels ice on Eldon Avenue in Scarborough, Ont., Monday, December 23, 2013. (Galit Rodan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

It was at this time last year when people began to realize their Christmas plans may have to be changed.

A massive storm coated southern Ontario on Dec. 22, 2013 – a Sunday, that year – downing power lines, uprooting trees and coating just about everything in a thick layer of ice.

In some communities, homes and businesses were left without power for days.

The storm left Carol Lang with a lasting reminder of its wrath.

A massive beech tree, which the Kitchener resident estimates stood in her yard for at least 80 years, was taken down.

All that was left of the beech was a large stump, for lack of a better term, which serves as little more than a conversation piece.

“It takes two grown men to get their arms around the trunk,” Lang said.

“How are you going to cut that with a normal 10-inch chainsaw? I almost have to call in a logger.”

The province has created a $190-million fund to help the municipalities affected most by the storm to recoup some of their costs.

None of that money has trickled out yet, as municipalities have until Dec. 31 to submit their proposals.

Among those seeking a share of the fund is the City of Kitchener, which hopes for about $400,000 from what city officials have called a complex process requiring more than 6,000 pages of documentation.

In neighbouring Woolwich Township, both the amount sought and the frustration level are noticeably lower.

“We’ve applied for just a little over $93,000,” township communication co-ordinator Devin Petteplace said.

Woolwich opened up part of its rec centre – running on a generator – to use as an emergency warming facility.

Plow operators and other municipal workers logged overtime. Petteplace said those are the sorts of costs the township is seeking reimbursement for.

As for concerns about the complexity of the application, Petteplace said Woolwich has no such issues.

“The province has to ensure the legitimacy of these claims. We appreciate that,” he said.

Guelph-Eramosa Township has also applied for relief funding, as have the towns of Erin and Minto.