WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY (PICS)
-
The lake and the waves have been wild. There is a football field and in some places two worth of ice that’s been pushed into the shore. Where I was standing taking pictures is normally 5-8 feet of water and I was probably 10 feet above the surface of the water (10-18 feet to the lake bottom). I’ve never seen this much ice in a winter stacked like this (for the entire duration of the season).
-
@goosehd This is one of the strangest storms I can remember. Hopefully you get power soon.
Good thing your passion for overbuilt clothing carried over to architecture. Timber, masonry, with a metal roof. Basically a fortress.
IH-HSE-01
-
Starting to decompress from the last 5 days…
The storm was epically bad and I’m glad it’s starting to return to some kind of normal. The power outage lasted for 4 days in below freezing temperatures and we managed to keep our house warm by feeding the fireplace every two-three hours. Our backup generator worked for 1.5 hours before shutting off, and I couldn’t get it restarted no matter what I tried.
Two different neighbours came to spend different nights in the spare bedroom so they could get warm. Their places got down to +3c during the duration of the storm and we were happy to be able to lend a hand. Our neighbours either use electricity or fuel systems for heating that require electricity to run the pumps and fan systems. When we built our home, we decided on a primary heat source (propane furnace) and a backup source (wood burning fireplace) for emergencies. I’m thankful that we added the backup….
My family and I spent two days cutting fallen trees off of our laneway so we could get out if necessary and my girls did a brilliant job of helping pull the brush off of the road into the surrounding woods. My neighbours are all in their late 60’s to 80’s and tried to help as much as they could, but we didn’t want to see them get hurt in the icy and freezing temperatures pulling brush or lifting heavy logs.
Now for a sad part: The area received a fair amount of snow in addition to the winds causing white out conditions as well of massive snowdrifts that were over 2 stories tall in some places. The road systems were all eventually closed in the area, as well as a major section of our main thoroughfare connecting Toronto to Montreal. In the local area it’s taken crews 4 days to clear the roads because of these drifts and vehicles caught in them. The police were using snowmobiles to rescue people if they could get to them, but sadly they have found 5 vehicles (unofficial) with the occupants deceased.
In the end my family and immediate neighbours all made out ok and we’ll always remember this Christmas in our own ways. My girls stepped up and I’m proud of how they handled it all…
In a month, we’re headed to the Caribbean for a 10 day vacation…I may just stay there
-
Wow Dennis that is so intense. Sorry to hear about the deaths from the weather but it is very cool that your family and community pulled together to get through it. As weather worsens that will be the spirit necessary to get through tough times.
-
??? bloody hell Denis!
-
@goosehd , this is an incredible story, I'm glad you made it out OK, and as you said it's a Christmas that you'll all remember in your own ways. Upstate and Western NY have similar stories going on. I'm sure the Caribbean vacation is looking good. Stay safe.
