Just over a year ago, parts of Southern Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), were slammed by one of the worst ice storms in many, many years. Two years' worth of freezing rain covered the region for days. Layers of ice brought down trees and cables leaving hundreds of thousands people in the dark. It fell consistently from the afternoon of December 21 until the evening of the twenty-second. Days of turmoil ensued. Power lines hit the ground resulting in more than 2,800 calls to Toronto Fire Service. Roads turned to skating rinks and tree branches large and small fell in numbers that made it impossible for city workers to determine how much if the urban canopy - encompassing 10.2 million trees - was ripped to shreds.
The outage left elderly and other more vulnerable people in despair as heat slowly drained from their homes in the plummeting temperatures. Pipes burst in older high-rises and neighbours came together in search of any warmth in homes or shelters that still had joy.
Toronto has applied for more than $64 million from the province and has announced many changes to better handle natural disasters going forward.
The changes would see the Canadian Red Cross Society mobilize as a disaster responder under a formalized agreement, introduce a committee of social services to help facilitate aid to vulnerable parts of the population and seek a closer relationship between Toronto's 311* service and Toronto Hydro. The funding will help the city cope with approximately $106 million in cleanup and disaster response costs.
A year later, some recommendations that arose from the disaster have yet to be implemented. The city is still in talks with Toronto Hydro over line clearances for trees, something the power agency's independent report has highlighted as a priority.
As the reports and recommendations find their way onto the desks of emergency managers, experts laud the concrete steps the city has taken. The real test, of course, will come when the next major storm hits.
"If all this stuff comes in, I think there will be a much better response," says Kenneth McBey, an emergency management professor at York University. "There will be fewer people falling through the cracks; it'll be a quicker response. If these recommendations are indeed followed through upon, I think a lot of good stuff is going to come out in terms of improved co-ordination and improved service to the city of Toronto."1
David Phillips is senior climatologist with Environment Canada. He says the likelihood of another massive storm event is certain. "We have to learn as a city, as individuals, that we have to get ready, prepare for these things to happen. Just don't think it's not going to occur in one's lifetime again because it occurred last year."
The new agreement with 311 is in its final stages. It will enable the city service to better handle calls related to power failure.
Since the storm there have been tangible improvements, though some key recommendations have not yet been acted on. Toronto Hydro's independent report into the ice storm recommended that the province mandate continuous backup power for high-rise buildings and that the city expand clearance afforded by trees to power lines. The city has requested the province amend the building code to require backup generators in high-rises. To date, the province is still considering this request.
Toronto Hydro has reviewed its communications capability, which was tested on 127,800 people phoned in on the first day of the ice storm - nearly 1000 times the average daily call volume for its centre. "Communications, giving the customer the information throughout the outage period was challenging (firstly) because nobody had power and (secondly) because it was such a devastation of systems," says Chris Tyrrel, chief customer care officer for the power agency. According to Tyrrel, Toronto Hydro itself has beefed up its communications ability by launching a new power outage landing page. The agency is also trying to bury some lines - specifically the ones that run through adjoining backyards of homes, which can prove difficult to repair during and after a storm. The Ontario Energy Board has not yet reached a decision regarding the funding for such an enterprise.
"I think we're much better prepared, certainly around the communications and managing customer expectations," Tyrrel continues. "We're better but we're going to get even better."
The arrangement with the Red Cross coincides with the agency in increasing its response capabilities. One of their central offices is now staffed 24/7 with volunteers ready to respond to disasters. They have also stowed large shipping crates full of emergency supplies at three Toronto locations and have smaller trailers ready elsewhere. The varied locations of the supplies lessen the impact icy roads would have on setting up emergency shelters. "By making sure that we have somebody on standby at all times and giving them the access to a vehicle and supplies, we make sure that our clients are seen pretty fast," remarked Jennifer Patchell, the GTA disaster manager. "In previous, we had a few calls every now and again, but now with the agreement we're hoping to very much increase the calls that come in therefore increasing the responses that volunteers can attend."2
The city has formed a working group consisting of various social services to better assist vulnerable people and has pre-identified four emergency shelter locations across the GTA.
Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), the largest supplier of public housing in Canada has recently included $9 million dollars in its budget for immediate replacement of 20 aging generators. Ultimately, old, diesel-fired gennies will be replaced with cleaner-burning natural gas units capable of supplying more adequate heat and power to their buildings. "We're a mile ahead of the private sector even on the existing generator system. Once we kick in this new program, we will be light-years ahead of the private sector," said Greg Spearn, interim president and CEO of TCHC.
In addition, the corporation has set up an improved off-site backup server and made arrangements with the Toronto Police Service to allow the housing agency's private security force to use the more reliable emergency bands during a disaster.
As is often the case following a major destructive event, some changes have been implemented but largely governments and agencies evaluate what has to be done and what could be done better.
"There's no question we're going to get more ice storms," continues McBey. "They can't be lessons noted - they've got to be lessons learned and implemented and change has to occur."
*311 Toronto is the largest customer service since the Greater Toronto Amalgamation (GTA) was formed in 1967. It improves accessibility to non-emergency city services and information. It is designed to increase and improve the city's effectiveness in responding to public inquiries.
1 Alaqmenciak, T. "Are we ready for the next disaster?" Toronto Star (December 20, 2014): GT1
2 Ibid.
