GTA Ice Storm Photos.

[Bluearrowll]

As of tonight according to Toronto Hydro there are a little less than 200,000 people without power since Saturday night. The peak was Saturday night - Sunday morning, where transformers were blowing up everywhere. Here's some photos I captured.

a bar left their tables out - this is the result


You had a difficult time putting away garbage because the doors were frozen


Tree branches that survived had a unique combination of freezing, melting, and freezing within a very short time period


Tree branches that did not survive blocked sidewalks, roads, and destroyed power

Need to use a fire hydrant? You'll first have to melt the hydrant.

You skated everywhere you went because the city's salt trucks (and there are many of them) were unable to keep up with the constant freezing going on in the roads and sidewalks. How constant? At this point, my camera started growing a layer of ice itself shown in the top right corner


Some businesses had a hard time opening today.

The sheer weight of ice on the trees was clearly dragging them down

Who wants to play Warchess III: Frozen Throne???

But of course even in Rosedale, the 2nd richest part of the city, there's still fires going on.

Here's a tree that fell around the dumpster area of my store's parking lot

and we CAN'T forget the street signs..

On a public transit bus at night going through apartment complexes... not a light to be seen in the distance

The only lights are cars and emergency lights

If you look closely, both photos are taken at intersections.

in Wasaga Beach, the ice was a little more untouched

[gold stinger]

My power just came back on. I have went 48 hours without water & heat. Just came back on for Don Mills & Sheppard. Happy to see water again considering we've been trying to get our water lately from trees & snow.

[6:57:33 PM] Kyle Walker (Goldstinger): [6:55 PM] Kyle Walker (Goldstinger):

<<< http://www.ontario.ca/law-and-safety...cy-information
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle16089496/

[gold stinger]

Bluearrowll, if you don't have any power you're welcome to come over to my place if you can make it or are still in the area. Don Mills & Sheppard right on the TTC Subway stop 65 Forest Manor Rd. Apt. #810 same w/ the buzzer # in our building

we live behind the condominiums that are being built up beside the subway station there right next to the school.

[Dynam0]

Awesome pics man! Especially the Wasaga Beach ones

[gold stinger]

from what they're saying on the radio, some people in the GTA will need to go until next weekend without power, right over christmas, as well as some of the other lucky people will be able to get their power restored, like me, before christmas. I'm glad that this thread was started right before my power came on though.

also, there are about 195,000 people without power as of right now, and when they say people, they really mean customers. Do the math for average amount of people per household, as well as include appartment buildings that also require power, and you're talking about 750,000 people without power right now.

[j-rodd123]

Still have some friends here in Kitchener without power, luckily mine was only out for half the day. I couldn't imagine having no power on Christmas lol

[xxXitsunexx]

That's a lot of people compared to the original 195k

[Bluearrowll]

The main issue is that branches and other objects frozen by ice keep falling on wires and / or transformers, shutting them down. It's delaying the power restoration process. As for myself, I was fortunate enough to never lose power in this storm, but have since left the city for the christmas break, returning January 5. I have two sisters on opposite ends of the city, both are without power still. One of them is on the 17th floor of a condo tower, but she doesn't mind the climb.

[gold stinger]

The thing is, the radio's & TV's say 195k PEOPLE, but the radios have made it very clear while talking to people at Toronto Hydro that these people are actually customers. 1 Building would be considered one customer. one house is considered one customer. if you do the math for 195k x 2.6 + 245000 (# of people in appartments totaled before-hand) = approx. 750k

[Kekeb]

Ouch. All we really got in Ottawa is a bunch of snow. Hopefully this power business gets sorted before the holidays are over.

[kommisar]

we had an ice storm here. still happening! didn't get it as bad but we got an accumulated 100cm of snow this week

[gold stinger]

If you need more coverage on the storm and other eye-witness accounts I'd recommend checking out http://www.reddit.com/r/toronto for more information as well as tips & tricks to survive the winter.

Also, if you live in an appartment building where your lighting has gone out, but there is still electricity in the hallways, check your hallways for sockets that are used by cleaners if you desperately need electricity and/or energy. We've had to use a plug output in the hallway along with some extension cords to power up a terrarium for our snake to stay alive.

[devonin]

My power was out for about 36 hours. Jane/St. Clair

I bailed out of the city to my sister's in Cobourg. It's a 60 minute train ride, which took about 2.5 hours.

[Tps222]

that's not grand theft auto

[Bluearrowll]

I have discovered this map that shows affected regions:
http://www.torontohydro.com/sites/el...OutageMap.aspx

It is a good indicator of where you may find a region near you if you are experiencing a power outage, that does have power. So if you were in need of essential supplies, you may want to consider visiting one of these regions.

Keep in mind on this map that Accounts = Customers, not actual people. An account could be an apartment building or a business. The number of affected people is much greater.

[DotKritic]

Originally Posted by Tps222

that's not grand theft auto

What I was thinking when I saw "GTA".

What would you (anyone) take? A week without power with temperatures in the single digits with a feel like below zero or a month without power in the humid heat with temperatures in the 90s with a feel like pushing 105-110°F?

[Dynam0]

I would rather be in the cold myself. It's SOOO uncomfortable when it's too hot, but you can bundle up if it's cold

[Herogashix]

Originally Posted by Bluearrowll

Who wants to play Warchess III: Frozen Throne???

roflmao, I feel too nerdy for laughing at this.


Ice storms are generally only cool when you're not involved, but I wish this would've extended down to here. :c

[Bluearrowll]

Originally Posted by DotKritic

What I was thinking when I saw "GTA".

What would you (anyone) take? A week without power with temperatures in the single digits with a feel like below zero or a month without power in the humid heat with temperatures in the 90s with a feel like pushing 105-110°F?

Easily in the cold without power. I've been spending the bulk of my time outside the past 24 hours anyway, but one advantage to the cold as opposed to the heat that hasn't been mentioned yet is that food is less likely to spoil as quickly in the cold.

Also attached is the Toronto Hydro outages map between last night and this morning. You can see where progress is being made..

[gold stinger]

I feel like it will go past New Year's until they are able to fix the problem entirely.