I live in Montreal and it was terrible. In those times, you discover how people can be united. Those with electricity shared their homes with friends and relatives. But at the end, I think it was worst in the country. They brought back the electricity in the cities first, but some people in the country were without electricity for weeks, even months. It was an ordeal for everyone in those area, but it was a nightmare for the farmers. We have a lot of cow farms. If you don’t milk those cows for a few days, they die. I don’t remember how many died, but I remember the stress of the farmers who were fighting to survive and to keep their cattle alive.
Most ice storms last a few hours and can still cause considerable damage. This storm lasted 5 days and the result was utter devastation. It is impossible to prepare for something like that. That video was part 1. There is a part 2 that you should watch.
Cool fact about this : a lot of north-eastern american businesses came to help rebuild and clean up after the storm, and several millions in donations were sent by the american citizens out of the goodness of their heart. This is why, when 9/11 happened just 3 years later, us montrealers were very proud to host, support and give back to the people of new york. Those 2 events, as tragic as they are, are a proof of the undeniable and unique bond between canadians and americans 🇨🇦🇺🇸
my uncle almost died in this!! he was outside during the melt and the house they lived in has a tin roof, he was walking by the front porch when all the ice slid off the roof and landed on him and his brother had to dig him out, he was in the hospital for weeks. I remember not having power for such a long time, powerlines and telephone lines were snapping every where from the weight of the ice heck even massive trees were falling over it was insane. As the one lady said its pretty at first but the more you get, the more you start realizing how bad of a situation it really can be. luckily my family heated our house with wood so the cold didnt effect us my neighbours heated with propane and we knew that so after the first day without power we offered them to stay with us or come over for heat whenever
This was hard to watch because I remember this event. I lived in Malone, NY, at the time, only a few miles from Quebec, maybe 10 min away. It was something very scary. The military ran the streets day and night, and we had no power for 3 weeks. People who lived out of town were out of power for 2 months. Military were knocking on doors picking people up to take them to shelters, but my family and 2 friends stayed home, and we stuck it out. We had to be up early every day because we had so little daylight that we had to get things done early. We lived across the church we went to so everyday my husband would go cook since the church had propane gas he would sneak out so the military wouldn't see him walking the reason was because there was down power lines and ice it was below ZERO for weeks but we had to eat so he had to go cook. We took cold showers, and we slept with candles in a small room it was cold, but there were 5 of us in a tiny room, so body heat and candles helped a lot. Till we found a kerosene heater at the church we had no clue how to even use it but we got it going and we ended up with black smoke all through the house and black stains every where but we figured how to work it eventually. At first, it was hard, but after a few days, we were playing family games listening to radio news on a small battery radio. Stores marked up their generators, which got them in trouble eventually. At the time we were on food stamps I think we got like 700 about but a few days later the government gave us like 7-800 dollars more that was the only good thing that came out of that storm. I swear I lived my worst nightmares in NY a couple of years later, we had an earthquake that scared the life out of me. Then 911 I remember that day so well I tried to leave NY but we couldn't the roads were blocked every where the bridge to Canada was backed up and closed down. Eventually a month later I moved to Michigan and I'm still here lol I lived 8yrs in NY had my son there in 2000 I gotta say I love upstate NY it's beautiful and the people are different they are very humble and nice I miss NY but I don't miss the problems mother nature can bring.
I remember this storm very well. I live in Maine, USA, which is right next to Canada. We had a 2 month old baby, and we were in the process of moving. Our new apartment lost power (ice storms are notorious for causing power outages - freezes the power lines and they break) so we had to go to my parent's house. They also lost power, but they had a kerosene heater. We were there for 5 days, all sitting around a little kerosene heater with a colicky infant. It was HORRIBLE.
In Southern Ohio where we got nearly 2 inches of ice that canceled school for 2 weeks. The school buses were encase in that two inch layer of ice and were inoperable. The trees appeared as beautiful and dangerous glass sculptures. It was like a different planet.
An unheated house in a cold climate gets too cold to stay in after about two days. In the Triangle area- labeled for three major cities around Drummondville, they lost the major electric pilons that carry the main electric lines. They took MONTHS to get their electricity back because the entire electric grid had to be rebuilt , from zero. They had to rebuild it during winter weather which they would never try to do normally,but they had no choice. Streets were impassable, stores were closed, no restaurants because no power. It was not fun, and you didn’t know when the freezing rain would stop! There is not much to do to prevent major infrastructure damage from ice storms, however, Hydro Quebec did redesign the rebuilt power pilons to better hold any weight from any future ice storms. We can see the new designs along the highway when you drive to Montreal.
Most Canadians would rather have snow than ice. Ice is very dangerous. It doesn’t take much ice to become treacherous. No heat, no electricity for cooking and in some cases no water, for days and days. It was too dangerous to drive any distance so unless there was a shelter set up very close to you, you were stuck at home
I was born in Montreal and I lived through the 1998 ice storm. I understand your feelings that it seems we were not prepared, but this had never happened in anyone’s lifetime and I don’t think anywhere. people are prepared for this kind of extreme event, whether it’s an ice storm or volcano or an earthquake. When this type of event happens extremely rare and usually unexpected and not so easy to prepare for. We were basically stuck in our house for five days without electricity and fortunately the weather was not too cold for this time of year. It was below freezing, but in a normal winter it could’ve been -25°C, but it is usually closer to 0°C when we get a storm, my parents live 300 m down the street and it was so dangerous for me to walk down the street to visit them because we live in an older part of the city where there are many big trees with branches falling. Streets impassable to cars. Damage to the trees was crazy. Also, no electricity means that everything is so quiet. You can hear a pin drop so imagine sitting in your house and hearing branches crashed down every 15 seconds Water is very heavy and when water freezes it is also heavy so everything that is covered in so much ice has so much extra weight, including the trees the houses and everything. In my area, we do not have gas line so we do not have a gas stove or gas heater. We depend on oil burning furnace, which requires electricity to start and blow the hot air throughout the house so the system does not work without electricity. Some houses have electric heating no electricity no heating. it was very uncomfortable. Watching this with you brings back a lot of emotion.
I remember this. I lived in Ottawa ( about 200 km from Montreal )at the time. I also remember losing power for a week. At the time I was in my final year on high school living on my own. It was crazy that even with my football boots on I had no traction. What a crazy experience however it was nice to see everyone helping each other out
This was a once in a lifetime event. The prime minister and head of the power company were on tv every night, explaining things to people. Neighbours helped each other, the army came in to help, people were generous and courageous. We are used to winter in Montreal, but this storm was winter X 100. It wasn't anything anyone could imagine. We were very lucky that it wasn't worse. Because Montreal is not only near the river, we are an island in the middle of the river. Bridges were closed because of the danger of falling ice so, we learned many years later that if the island had to be evacuated, it would have taken days and weeks, it just wasn't possible. So even though it looks as if the government isn't doing anything, they were trying to keep people calm, which was very important.
I live pretty much right in the middle of where this hit. I was without power for 27 days. We had the military guarding a generator that kept our towns phones working. It was an interesting time.
A whole bunch of farmers around Ontario banded together to help those farmers in need down in Quebec in 1998, our farm sent an expensive "alternator" that was portable and able to to be used by a tractor on a dairy farm to produce badly needed electricity to run things like milking equipment, stable cleaners, silo unloaders, etc. When it was returned to our dairy farm it was ruined, a $5,000 loss, never again. It was mounted on a heavy duty frame, plate steel, it was all warped, the PTO shaft was warped, the generator was worn out, and the cost to refurbish it more than it was worth.
The logistical problems to bring in any supplies in that disaster are unique. Even if you can suddenly get the supplies the roads are iced over and cannot be used safely. The same for airport tarmacs, train tracks and shipping docks. Not to mention ice build up on any vehicles entering the area if another storm occurred. The daily temperatures in the area would not be high enough to melt the ice for several weeks. Additionally, any efforts made in the area during this time might suffer additional ice storms.
The most terrifying thing bout the aftermath of storms like that, is the trees; there is so much ice on the branches they struggle with the accumulated weight and a stiff breeze can cause them to break and fall. As a result, walking anywhere on any path or sidewalk in a suburb becomes a harrowing expierience.
I remember this very well......the kids were happy to have ice everywhere....luckily we had heating because of gas furnace.....and a wood stove.....plus a gas stove.....the only thing that wasn't working was the refrigerator....but we had enough ice and cold in our backyard....we had camping lanterns as lighting....we also had hot water co's our water tank was heated by gas......we had family and friends ds coming at our house to stay during this hardship.
After a couple of storms where we live where my parents lost power and had to go to hotels.... they installed a natural gas generator and it always works and its not dangerous like the gas powered ones. And it automatically comes on within 30 seconds of the power going out.
Hi! As a canadian here's what we usually try to do to prepare for big storms: -Have some days worth of food that does not need to be cooked in case of a big power outage -Have a couple big jugs of drinking water to ration for a few days if the water pipes freeze -Keep some medical supplies in case of emergencies -Trim any trees close to powerlines, roofs and windows long before winter hits -Close off any rooms to your house that you won't use during the storm, keep all of the heat you can in the living area -Keep a shovel inside if you need to dig your way out of your house - and coarse salt / sand if you need a pathway with some traction -Also if you can insulate your house better and have other ways of heating than just electricity, it'll help (And having the necessary ventilation if using combustion, it's impossible to open windows that are frozen shut, and most exhaust fans are electricity powered) You have to keep in mind that houses are a low-priority for repairing the electrical lines, hospitals and shelters go first, elderly housing, places that could become shelters, farms, and then regular houses.
I was born and raised in Montreal but when this storm happened I was living in beautiful Middle East Kuwait for a 2 year project to build a manufacturing plant. The news of this storm even made it to Kuwait. It was horrible watching what was happening to my city. Yes, ice storms are beautiful to look at but they usually melt the next day so life goes on as normal.
I remember this storm, I was a teenager. luckily where I lived it wasn't nearly as bad as it was in Quebec/Ottawa, we didn't lose power. You also have to remember that these extreme weather events happen very rarely, so saying people shouldn't live there doesn't make sense. Yes it gets pretty damn cold, but we're used to the extreme cold for those couple of weeks in Jan/Feb when the cold snap usually sweeps in. Always a good idea to have a generator and if you do have a wood burning fireplace/stove make sure it gets inspected every couple of years so if you need it, you know it's safe to use. Several years back there was a big storm that went through our area in Ontario that did a lot of damage to trees and power lines, the street I live on was without power for 6 days (rural living down a long dirt road, luckily it was the summer time though so we didn't have to worry about heat) everyone had to use their generators to keep their fridge/freezers going, and the neighbours that didn't have a generator borrowed from those that did so they could run their appliances for a few hours a few times a day to keep their food from spoiling.
Was a hard time during 1998. Luckily, was living out in the country and despite having gone 9 days without power. But the good thing is we had plenty of wood and a woodstove that was always used in winter. Had a propane lamp for night and we cooked our food over the woodstove.
Thank you so much for reacting to this. I was hoping you would. 😊 I laughed when Buddy said "I'd get the f out of there!" I suppose you could strap on a pair of skates. 😂 I remember this event well. My daughter was only 2 at the time. We packed some clothes, books and toys, thawed the car door with a hair dryer, and went to a community shelter (very slowly and carefully.) We were kept warm, fed and safe, most of all we had each other. We were there for 6 days before our power was back on. Here we say Mother Nature, Father Spirit... Mother Earth, Father Sky.
I live in Hull, Quebec and I remember the ice storm of course. I was 25 and had just had surgery and was alone in my apartment. I had wrought iron stairs to get to the street and they were pure ice so I was stuck inside. It was really scary seeing cars slide off the road and just left there till they could get them out. Freaky.😊
I REMEMBER THAT STORM!! ....It was hauntingly quiet in the streets and all you could hear was the cracking of branches and ice shattering in million of pieces. We were so lucky not to have missed any electricity. Not everybody was as lucky.
I was there, 19 years old. I remember the sound of the building creaking under the weight of the ice, it was scary. I got a job shoveling ice chunks off the roof tops, was making good money for 1998, $20 an hour. I almost got killed by a falling piece of ice that broke off an overpass light, it crashed right behind me and fell from so high that the impact sent little pieces of ice that cut into the back of my neck and flew all around me, I thought a car had crashed behind me and it was glass. When I turned around, all I could see was a big pile of crushed ice, I was confused for a few moments until I realized what had happened, a 300-400 pound block of ice had broken off a 50-60 foot high street light and crashed about 6 feet behind me. The ice storm was crazy dangerous in many ways. If it had kept up like that a few day more, it would have levelled the entire city more flat than if a giant steam roller had gone over it.
I was 8 years old. We weren't in the most affected area, but I remember that we lived up a hill on the Orlean's Island, and obviously couldn't get the cars up the slope so we let them below... But that was a pretty long and steep slope, and it was very dangerous to go back to our car when we came down. Just imagine a whole family slipping at high speed down a hug slope hanged over a hill... I remember my parents being very stressed, but as an 8 years old I thought it was all fun and games lol... Btw, yes, we just didn't think a lot of it the first day ; ice storm do happen pretty regularly in winter. It's the build up during many days that made it a crisis. We're used to skating a little on icy sidewalks, were northerners, we continue to live. And even fallen trees during snowstorm - and even bringing down power lines - is pretty common ; if I woke up one morning with a bunch of trees fallen in my street with no electricity, I would be like "ah shit...", but would still go on my way to work. But I think the guy on the left just didn't notice the video was going back to day 1, cause at this point, there's no blame to have on the government really.
Yeah, a creosote buildup can occur using certain kinds of wood, any wood does some, some woods cause more, then that build up can catch on fire... We had that occur in our fireplace once, had to put a new liner in it so it would be useable.
I remember living through this, all the power lines in my area of Toronto were down, I walked for 3 hours in snow and ice to get home from school that day because there were NO buses, NO ability to have my parents come get me, and I live 9km from school :) I was 17 gosh the flashbacks from watching this. Love your content! New subscriber!
I went through Quebec about two months after this. There were entire forests of crushed trees, and I remember buildings in Montreal with cracks all the way down their sides from the weight of the ice that fell on them.
I was in high school when it happened. I remember looking out the window the first morning and seeing our birch trees completely bent into arcs, slowly thickening with ice... It was a very sinister type of beautiful, simultaneously terrifying. We slept by the fireplace, cooked in fireplace, and put all our frozen food on the back deck in the ice.
I was in the ice storm that hit in Ontario 2013. They say it started on the 19th of December, but where I lived it started on the 17th of December and lasted until the 24th of December.
I was 17 when this storm happened. It was insane, I’m used to ice storm and snow storms,but this was a special one. My School was closed and it became a shelter. I was lucky we had power so some of my friends came to stay with us because they didn’t have power. I remember hearing the transformers on the power lines exploding as the lines were ripping out of it because they were on heavy. This storm was a once in a lifetime event.
I was living at my girlfriend s home in Longueuil south shore of Montreal ! Right in the triangle of the ice Storm ! We were out of power for 30 days ! we had not heat at all ! stores had no more generators ! you couldn t even find candles ! all the motels with power had no more rooms ! Temp was - 10c and it was raining and freezing on contact of things ! My girlfriend stayed in the house all that time ! I was a trucker and working all that time ! i was hauling pork from Ste- Hyacinthe, south of Montreal to Toronto, Ontario ! after one month i had 8 inches of ice on my car ! our company had no power, the dispatch was staying at a neighbor accross the street, there was power ! You never forget things like that ! thanks for reading my comment ! 🥶🤠
To be clear, the metal poles falling over wasn’t because of the cold/temperature - it was the weight of the ice that had collected on the poles, pylons and trees
4:36 I live in Brockville and was about 16 years old when this storm happened. It was surreal. Even when it finally started to melt, there was big danger with falling ice from trees or rooftops. Completely crippling storm.
I live in Quebec, directly in the area the storm went completely nuts. Freezing temperature and 26 days without electricity. The Quebec prime minister at the time even went here and dispatched the army to help us. To this day, I still have the blankets and Fortune bed they gave us. 1998 was a weird year, hahaha!
The ice storm of December 2013 in Ontario was also pretty bad, some people had no power for 5 days and thieves went around looking for empty houses to rob. Dropped down to -15C. It was just before Xmas. I had no salt, but found a hammer worked well to help clear the driveway ice, having left several inches of snow so the ice would form on top of that and could be lifted in huge slabs. The best way to handle any emergency is to plan ahead and be prepared!
Having lived through that disaster, I can tell you that that video didn't do the effects of the storm justice: it was much worse than what was shown--the effects of it lasted for months.
If you're in a cabin in the woods with a nice natural gas powered generator, there is nothing more beautiful. I live in the southern US, North Carolina specifically and we've had a few. Its breathtaking, but absolutely dangerous. All that ice makes trees and powerlines extremely heavy and things just start coming down. In the south this weather is even more dangerous because we don't have the infastructure to handle it and it often snows closely after the ice which just makes the roads more dangerous because people don't realize they are driving on snow over ice. Snow is easier to drive on, ice is nearly impossible. The last time we had this problem, I just had to sleep at a hotel, I was never making it home. I had to wait for the trucks and plows to clear things overnight. I couldn't get home and it was just a 10-15 min drive. There were memes and pics of that storm everywhere. We have a lot of hills in this area and people did a lot of stupid things. One person reved their engine so hard trying to get up a hill it caught on fire. The fire burned so hot it melted the asphalt..... on a major road, in front of the most expensive steak house in the state. The fire department couldn't get there because everything was blocked with traffic. The government knew the storm was coming and probably should have made people close offices..... but it happened so fast, we were all screwed in an hour. I went to the hotel after 2 hours of trying to get home. Some of my coworkers spent 6-8 hours getting home. When events like this happen in one area, power crews come from all over to help. Those 600 crews they had came from all over Canada and I'm guessing they also got a bunch of crews from the US.
Where were you in the storm of 93? I live in the far western North Carolina and we ended up with almost 30" of snow. Everything was shut down for 2 weeks
It is true that most materials become more brittle and fragile in freezing temperatures, but mostly these trees and electrical pylons etc. collapse under the insane weight of ice covering them. Even snow can do that, but this is not fluffy snow, this is solid ice. Freezing rain is one of the worst. The thing is... under certain circumstances, you can have water under 0°C, that is not frozen. "Supercooled" water is very unstable and freezes instantly on impact etc. So the rain freezes immediately after falling on something. Look for some video about supercooled water, it looks like magic. Pretty scary "magic" in this instance.
I lived in Ontario then and it was affected as well but not as bad. Jump ahead twenty years later and we had another one. 40 foot trees just froze and broke off everywhere. It was a complete mess. I’ll never forget it. EVERYTHING was covered in at least 3 niches of ice.
Ice is heavy and freezing rain has very little air bubbles so it's more compact than regular ice which is what makes it even more dangerous. I was only a teenager back then but I still remember how we couldn't go out anywhere, once the power was out even stores were closed so if you stayed home you had to find a way to stay warm and hopefully you had enough food to last through the days. If this happened again, it would undoubtedly be equally bad, the only thing that might change is that we now know the effects an ice storm has and it might be easier to assemble emergency crews but the infrastructure can only take so much. And yes please do a part 2 to this, it's a very interesting storm that now many people heard about back in the day.
For your information, In Canada, being out of power in January is dangerous. You could die frozen, as temperatures are usally around -10C in average in January in the Montreal area. We had to leave our homes and go to shelters where they had generators.
Our furnace broke down one year. Took about 2-3 days to get a repair. We had a little space heater so we all slept in the living room. I ddi t even want to get up to use the rest room.
I was young when this happened but I remember it all too well. Even in Ontario it was something else - living in the country we were used to power outages for a couple days at a time but this was a solid week and there was no break from the ice. Not even near the thick of things and it was the worst weather I've ever experienced. So many injuries from older folks in our town and accidents all over the place. Truly wild.
I was 14 in Ottawa. Our heat was electric and had no power for weeks. Near the end, generators were shared throughout the neighborhood when needed. Fires in makeshift stoves. We were stronger people after this.
I dodged a major bullet on that one. I was living in Ottawa but moved down to Waterloo for University. I left Ottawa about 3 days before the ice storm and my new area did not get hit.
I was 17 when this happened.. i got lucky, didn't lose hydro for days but the trees were beautiful covered in ice. i was living by the american border in quebec/vermont in stanstead, 2 hrs away from montreal.
I am 42 years old and I was there in the middle of it when it happened in 1998 and I can tell you that even if they would have wanted to the Government couldn't do much it was the wrath of God and nature. We had to do our best to help each other, survive and remember the heroes who went into dangerous suicidal mission to give us back electricity so we have power and heat during winter. These heroes had to be drop from helicopter on top of icy giant power pylon and transfer connection to another line. There was no way for them to stay hook to the helicopter the wind were too dangerous and no way to fully attach themselves to the pylon to prevent themselves from falling. These heroes manage to do it and to connect us to another line that was not broken and a huge percentage of people could finally have power after days of cold temperature. No one died doing this suicidal mission and I will always remember them in my heart and have huge respect even if I do not know them to have attempt something this crazy. If they would have slip the other would have not been able to support their weight and not slip also from atop the pylon and they came out alive. Thank you again for these heroes and all of the 600 people who work night and day to cut trees, clean street from dangerous cable and metal.
we got hit with an ice storm couple winters ago. Knocked out the power for three days. It always amazes me (even though I've experience it multiple times now) Just how much weight is in an inch of ice. Course the ice was bad in that last storm. But it was the 45 MPH winds that just snapped power poles like they were toothpicks.
I was living in a condo in Gatineau when it happened. I was the only one in my family with electricity. Many of my family members who did not have electricity came to live with me until it came back on for them. There weren't many deaths, but the ones which occured were usually from carbon monoxide poisoning when people tried to keep warm by lighting their barbecues in enclosed spaces (like garages.)
The things break because of the immense added weight of the ice. Telephone poles that weighed 1 metric ton normally, weighed 43.5 metric tons with all the ice.
16:25 what he is saying here isnt just about shelters. He is saying, leave the region if you can, go live with other members of your family or long distance friends if you can. There is no power, and we cannot keep up with the storm
Canadian here - You would think that makes sense to do - but I know many of my neighbors now, do not have three days of food in their house. And they would be clueless how to start a fire.
I was there. I lived it. Everyone ran to the stores for bottled water and cash at the ATMs. I was very anxious. We could not leave the island because of the bridges. Essential services still needed to operate. They can't stay home.
I haven't been through a storm that bad, but I have been without electricity for days during the winter because of a storm. I understand why people didn't leave. You think it is going to be over soon, that you only need to wait a little while and things will return to normal. Remember, when you have no electricity, you can't always get the news, so you don't know what is happening.
Yo! My high school remained open during all this and so of course my parents made me go. That first Monday, my friends and I skipped our classes. There wasn't anything to do there really, because mostly everyone stayed home. Luckily my area wasn't too badly effected, and we didn't lose power.
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The weight of ice is incredible
I live in Montreal and it was terrible. In those times, you discover how people can be united. Those with electricity shared their homes with friends and relatives. But at the end, I think it was worst in the country. They brought back the electricity in the cities first, but some people in the country were without electricity for weeks, even months. It was an ordeal for everyone in those area, but it was a nightmare for the farmers. We have a lot of cow farms. If you don’t milk those cows for a few days, they die. I don’t remember how many died, but I remember the stress of the farmers who were fighting to survive and to keep their cattle alive.
Most ice storms last a few hours and can still cause considerable damage. This storm lasted 5 days and the result was utter devastation. It is impossible to prepare for something like that. That video was part 1. There is a part 2 that you should watch.
Please show the second part when you’re able! 👍❤️
Cool fact about this : a lot of north-eastern american businesses came to help rebuild and clean up after the storm, and several millions in donations were sent by the american citizens out of the goodness of their heart.
This is why, when 9/11 happened just 3 years later, us montrealers were very proud to host, support and give back to the people of new york. Those 2 events, as tragic as they are, are a proof of the undeniable and unique bond between canadians and americans 🇨🇦🇺🇸
Ice is HEAVY. Any breeze makes things even worse. Structures and tree branches can only handle so much stress before breaking.
my uncle almost died in this!! he was outside during the melt and the house they lived in has a tin roof, he was walking by the front porch when all the ice slid off the roof and landed on him and his brother had to dig him out, he was in the hospital for weeks. I remember not having power for such a long time, powerlines and telephone lines were snapping every where from the weight of the ice heck even massive trees were falling over it was insane. As the one lady said its pretty at first but the more you get, the more you start realizing how bad of a situation it really can be. luckily my family heated our house with wood so the cold didnt effect us my neighbours heated with propane and we knew that so after the first day without power we offered them to stay with us or come over for heat whenever
Yeah, most of us say Mother Nature here in Canada and the US. Some say god. Some say both. It is what it is regardless of what you call it. 💚
This was hard to watch because I remember this event. I lived in Malone, NY, at the time, only a few miles from Quebec, maybe 10 min away. It was something very scary. The military ran the streets day and night, and we had no power for 3 weeks. People who lived out of town were out of power for 2 months. Military were knocking on doors picking people up to take them to shelters, but my family and 2 friends stayed home, and we stuck it out. We had to be up early every day because we had so little daylight that we had to get things done early. We lived across the church we went to so everyday my husband would go cook since the church had propane gas he would sneak out so the military wouldn't see him walking the reason was because there was down power lines and ice it was below ZERO for weeks but we had to eat so he had to go cook. We took cold showers, and we slept with candles in a small room it was cold, but there were 5 of us in a tiny room, so body heat and candles helped a lot. Till we found a kerosene heater at the church we had no clue how to even use it but we got it going and we ended up with black smoke all through the house and black stains every where but we figured how to work it eventually. At first, it was hard, but after a few days, we were playing family games listening to radio news on a small battery radio. Stores marked up their generators, which got them in trouble eventually. At the time we were on food stamps I think we got like 700 about but a few days later the government gave us like 7-800 dollars more that was the only good thing that came out of that storm. I swear I lived my worst nightmares in NY a couple of years later, we had an earthquake that scared the life out of me. Then 911 I remember that day so well I tried to leave NY but we couldn't the roads were blocked every where the bridge to Canada was backed up and closed down. Eventually a month later I moved to Michigan and I'm still here lol I lived 8yrs in NY had my son there in 2000 I gotta say I love upstate NY it's beautiful and the people are different they are very humble and nice I miss NY but I don't miss the problems mother nature can bring.
I remember this storm very well. I live in Maine, USA, which is right next to Canada. We had a 2 month old baby, and we were in the process of moving. Our new apartment lost power (ice storms are notorious for causing power outages - freezes the power lines and they break) so we had to go to my parent's house. They also lost power, but they had a kerosene heater. We were there for 5 days, all sitting around a little kerosene heater with a colicky infant. It was HORRIBLE.
IM IN QUEBEC I WAS 13 YEARS OLD WHEN THAT ICE STORM HIT US 1 MONTH WITHOUT ELECTRICITY THAT BRING A LOT OF MEMORIES BACK
In Southern Ohio where we got nearly 2 inches of ice that canceled school for 2 weeks.
The school buses were encase in that two inch layer of ice and were inoperable. The trees appeared as beautiful and dangerous glass sculptures. It was like a different planet.
An unheated house in a cold climate gets too cold to stay in after about two days. In the Triangle area- labeled for three major cities around Drummondville, they lost the major electric pilons that carry the main electric lines. They took MONTHS to get their electricity back because the entire electric grid had to be rebuilt , from zero. They had to rebuild it during winter weather which they would never try to do normally,but they had no choice. Streets were impassable, stores were closed, no restaurants because no power. It was not fun, and you didn’t know when the freezing rain would stop! There is not much to do to prevent major infrastructure damage from ice storms, however, Hydro Quebec did redesign the rebuilt power pilons to better hold any weight from any future ice storms. We can see the new designs along the highway when you drive to Montreal.
ice storms are terrifying. the weight of it alone is insane.
Most Canadians would rather have snow than ice. Ice is very dangerous. It doesn’t take much ice to become treacherous.
No heat, no electricity for cooking and in some cases no water, for days and days. It was too dangerous to drive any distance so unless there was a shelter set up very close to you, you were stuck at home
I lived through this, was wild. Tried walking outside, literally couldn't take a step without falling. It was beautiful though.
I was born in Montreal and I lived through the 1998 ice storm. I understand your feelings that it seems we were not prepared, but this had never happened in anyone’s lifetime and I don’t think anywhere. people are prepared for this kind of extreme event, whether it’s an ice storm or volcano or an earthquake. When this type of event happens extremely rare and usually unexpected and not so easy to prepare for. We were basically stuck in our house for five days without electricity and fortunately the weather was not too cold for this time of year. It was below freezing, but in a normal winter it could’ve been -25°C, but it is usually closer to 0°C when we get a storm, my parents live 300 m down the street and it was so dangerous for me to walk down the street to visit them because we live in an older part of the city where there are many big trees with branches falling. Streets impassable to cars. Damage to the trees was crazy. Also, no electricity means that everything is so quiet. You can hear a pin drop so imagine sitting in your house and hearing branches crashed down every 15 seconds Water is very heavy and when water freezes it is also heavy so everything that is covered in so much ice has so much extra weight, including the trees the houses and everything. In my area, we do not have gas line so we do not have a gas stove or gas heater. We depend on oil burning furnace, which requires electricity to start and blow the hot air throughout the house so the system does not work without electricity. Some houses have electric heating no electricity no heating. it was very uncomfortable. Watching this with you brings back a lot of emotion.
yup ,,, also there was no crime for the week. Everyone was just trying to survive.
I remember this. I lived in Ottawa ( about 200 km from Montreal )at the time. I also remember losing power for a week. At the time I was in my final year on high school living on my own. It was crazy that even with my football boots on I had no traction.
What a crazy experience however it was nice to see everyone helping each other out
This was a once in a lifetime event. The prime minister and head of the power company were on tv every night, explaining things to people. Neighbours helped each other, the army came in to help, people were generous and courageous. We are used to winter in Montreal, but this storm was winter X 100. It wasn't anything anyone could imagine. We were very lucky that it wasn't worse. Because Montreal is not only near the river, we are an island in the middle of the river. Bridges were closed because of the danger of falling ice so, we learned many years later that if the island had to be evacuated, it would have taken days and weeks, it just wasn't possible. So even though it looks as if the government isn't doing anything, they were trying to keep people calm, which was very important.
I live pretty much right in the middle of where this hit. I was without power for 27 days. We had the military guarding a generator that kept our towns phones working. It was an interesting time.
A whole bunch of farmers around Ontario banded together to help those farmers in need down in Quebec in 1998, our farm sent an expensive "alternator" that was portable and able to to be used by a tractor on a dairy farm to produce badly needed electricity to run things like milking equipment, stable cleaners, silo unloaders, etc. When it was returned to our dairy farm it was ruined, a $5,000 loss, never again. It was mounted on a heavy duty frame, plate steel, it was all warped, the PTO shaft was warped, the generator was worn out, and the cost to refurbish it more than it was worth.
The crashing trees woke me up. When I looked outside, it was as though a bomb dropped.
Guys, the point of this is that no matter where you live people are at the mercy of nature. No government, religion, can stop the force of nature.
My brother was in the armed forces and they were sent there. He said the destruction was worse than anything he had ever seen.
Thank you to your brother. We were in deep ... ice ? They helped us so much.
The logistical problems to bring in any supplies in that disaster are unique. Even if you can suddenly get the supplies the roads are iced over and cannot be used safely. The same for airport tarmacs, train tracks and shipping docks. Not to mention ice build up on any vehicles entering the area if another storm occurred. The daily temperatures in the area would not be high enough to melt the ice for several weeks. Additionally, any efforts made in the area during this time might suffer additional ice storms.
The most terrifying thing bout the aftermath of storms like that, is the trees; there is so much ice on the branches they struggle with the accumulated weight and a stiff breeze can cause them to break and fall. As a result, walking anywhere on any path or sidewalk in a suburb becomes a harrowing expierience.
I remember this very well......the kids were happy to have ice everywhere....luckily we had heating because of gas furnace.....and a wood stove.....plus a gas stove.....the only thing that wasn't working was the refrigerator....but we had enough ice and cold in our backyard....we had camping lanterns as lighting....we also had hot water co's our water tank was heated by gas......we had family and friends ds coming at our house to stay during this hardship.
After a couple of storms where we live where my parents lost power and had to go to hotels.... they installed a natural gas generator and it always works and its not dangerous like the gas powered ones. And it automatically comes on within 30 seconds of the power going out.
It was really bad, they lost electricity, heat, some couldn’t find food. It lasted a long time.
Hi!
As a canadian here's what we usually try to do to prepare for big storms:
-Have some days worth of food that does not need to be cooked in case of a big power outage
-Have a couple big jugs of drinking water to ration for a few days if the water pipes freeze
-Keep some medical supplies in case of emergencies
-Trim any trees close to powerlines, roofs and windows long before winter hits
-Close off any rooms to your house that you won't use during the storm, keep all of the heat you can in the living area
-Keep a shovel inside if you need to dig your way out of your house - and coarse salt / sand if you need a pathway with some traction
-Also if you can insulate your house better and have other ways of heating than just electricity, it'll help (And having the necessary ventilation if using combustion, it's impossible to open windows that are frozen shut, and most exhaust fans are electricity powered)
You have to keep in mind that houses are a low-priority for repairing the electrical lines, hospitals and shelters go first, elderly housing, places that could become shelters, farms, and then regular houses.
I was born and raised in Montreal but when this storm happened I was living in beautiful Middle East Kuwait for a 2 year project to build a manufacturing plant. The news of this storm even made it to Kuwait. It was horrible watching what was happening to my city.
Yes, ice storms are beautiful to look at but they usually melt the next day so life goes on as normal.
I was right in the middle of it . I was 11 , to this day I still believe this is one of the hardest but best experience I ever had haha
I remember this storm, I was a teenager. luckily where I lived it wasn't nearly as bad as it was in Quebec/Ottawa, we didn't lose power.
You also have to remember that these extreme weather events happen very rarely, so saying people shouldn't live there doesn't make sense. Yes it gets pretty damn cold, but we're used to the extreme cold for those couple of weeks in Jan/Feb when the cold snap usually sweeps in. Always a good idea to have a generator and if you do have a wood burning fireplace/stove make sure it gets inspected every couple of years so if you need it, you know it's safe to use.
Several years back there was a big storm that went through our area in Ontario that did a lot of damage to trees and power lines, the street I live on was without power for 6 days (rural living down a long dirt road, luckily it was the summer time though so we didn't have to worry about heat) everyone had to use their generators to keep their fridge/freezers going, and the neighbours that didn't have a generator borrowed from those that did so they could run their appliances for a few hours a few times a day to keep their food from spoiling.
Was a hard time during 1998. Luckily, was living out in the country and despite having gone 9 days without power. But the good thing is we had plenty of wood and a woodstove that was always used in winter. Had a propane lamp for night and we cooked our food over the woodstove.
Thank you so much for reacting to this. I was hoping you would. 😊 I laughed when Buddy said "I'd get the f out of there!" I suppose you could strap on a pair of skates. 😂 I remember this event well. My daughter was only 2 at the time. We packed some clothes, books and toys, thawed the car door with a hair dryer, and went to a community shelter (very slowly and carefully.) We were kept warm, fed and safe, most of all we had each other. We were there for 6 days before our power was back on. Here we say Mother Nature, Father Spirit... Mother Earth, Father Sky.
thank you ♥
I know someone who was working on call for Ontario Hydro when this happened.
He was stringing lines 18 hours a day for 2 weeks in that mess.
I live in Hull, Quebec and I remember the ice storm of course. I was 25 and had just had surgery and was alone in my apartment. I had wrought iron stairs to get to the street and they were pure ice so I was stuck inside. It was really scary seeing cars slide off the road and just left there till they could get them out. Freaky.😊
I REMEMBER THAT STORM!! ....It was hauntingly quiet in the streets and all you could hear was the cracking of branches and ice shattering in million of pieces. We were so lucky not to have missed any electricity. Not everybody was as lucky.
I was there, 19 years old. I remember the sound of the building creaking under the weight of the ice, it was scary. I got a job shoveling ice chunks off the roof tops, was making good money for 1998, $20 an hour. I almost got killed by a falling piece of ice that broke off an overpass light, it crashed right behind me and fell from so high that the impact sent little pieces of ice that cut into the back of my neck and flew all around me, I thought a car had crashed behind me and it was glass. When I turned around, all I could see was a big pile of crushed ice, I was confused for a few moments until I realized what had happened, a 300-400 pound block of ice had broken off a 50-60 foot high street light and crashed about 6 feet behind me. The ice storm was crazy dangerous in many ways. If it had kept up like that a few day more, it would have levelled the entire city more flat than if a giant steam roller had gone over it.
Check out the year of the "Big Freeze" 1962-63
20ft snow drifts
I was 8 years old. We weren't in the most affected area, but I remember that we lived up a hill on the Orlean's Island, and obviously couldn't get the cars up the slope so we let them below... But that was a pretty long and steep slope, and it was very dangerous to go back to our car when we came down. Just imagine a whole family slipping at high speed down a hug slope hanged over a hill... I remember my parents being very stressed, but as an 8 years old I thought it was all fun and games lol...
Btw, yes, we just didn't think a lot of it the first day ; ice storm do happen pretty regularly in winter. It's the build up during many days that made it a crisis. We're used to skating a little on icy sidewalks, were northerners, we continue to live. And even fallen trees during snowstorm - and even bringing down power lines - is pretty common ; if I woke up one morning with a bunch of trees fallen in my street with no electricity, I would be like "ah shit...", but would still go on my way to work. But I think the guy on the left just didn't notice the video was going back to day 1, cause at this point, there's no blame to have on the government really.
I'm so glad that you took a look at this! It was one of the craziest things I ever experienced.
Yeah, a creosote buildup can occur using certain kinds of wood, any wood does some, some woods cause more, then that build up can catch on fire... We had that occur in our fireplace once, had to put a new liner in it so it would be useable.
Canadian winters can be absolutely brutal.
I live midwest usa and can say Canadian winter winds blow right through you to your bones. 🥶
I remember living through this, all the power lines in my area of Toronto were down, I walked for 3 hours in snow and ice to get home from school that day because there were NO buses, NO ability to have my parents come get me, and I live 9km from school :) I was 17 gosh the flashbacks from watching this. Love your content! New subscriber!
I went through Quebec about two months after this. There were entire forests of crushed trees, and I remember buildings in Montreal with cracks all the way down their sides from the weight of the ice that fell on them.
I was in high school when it happened.
I remember looking out the window the first morning and seeing our birch trees completely bent into arcs, slowly thickening with ice...
It was a very sinister type of beautiful, simultaneously terrifying.
We slept by the fireplace, cooked in fireplace, and put all our frozen food on the back deck in the ice.
The ice Storm of 1998 injured almost 1,000 people and temporarily displaced more than 600,000. 35 Canadian deaths were attributed to the storm.
I recall this... we had no Power for two weeks in New Brunswick and had 2 deaths due freezing and Propane toxic carbine death.
I was in the ice storm that hit in Ontario 2013. They say it started on the 19th of December, but where I lived it started on the 17th of December and lasted until the 24th of December.
I was 17 when this storm happened. It was insane, I’m used to ice storm and snow storms,but this was a special one. My School was closed and it became a shelter. I was lucky we had power so some of my friends came to stay with us because they didn’t have power. I remember hearing the transformers on the power lines exploding as the lines were ripping out of it because they were on heavy. This storm was a once in a lifetime event.
Things don't break because they're freezing... they freeze every winter. It's because of the weight of the ice.
I live about 600 kms east of Montreal and we experienced the ice storm all the way over here, though not nearly as devastating as Montreal got hit.
I remember that winter 😮 bad time for Canada and USA
I was living at my girlfriend s home in Longueuil south shore of Montreal ! Right in the triangle of the ice Storm ! We were out of power for 30 days ! we had not heat at all ! stores had no more generators ! you couldn t even find candles ! all the motels with power had no more rooms ! Temp was - 10c and it was raining and freezing on contact of things ! My girlfriend stayed in the house all that time ! I was a trucker and working all that time ! i was hauling pork from Ste- Hyacinthe, south of Montreal to Toronto, Ontario ! after one month i had 8 inches of ice on my car ! our company had no power, the dispatch was staying at a neighbor accross the street, there was power ! You never forget things like that ! thanks for reading my comment ! 🥶🤠
I remember that like it was yesterday. Been through several Ice storms, and they can be very beautiful, fascinating, but also incredibly destructive.
To be clear, the metal poles falling over wasn’t because of the cold/temperature - it was the weight of the ice that had collected on the poles, pylons and trees
4:36 I live in Brockville and was about 16 years old when this storm happened. It was surreal. Even when it finally started to melt, there was big danger with falling ice from trees or rooftops. Completely crippling storm.
I live in Quebec, directly in the area the storm went completely nuts. Freezing temperature and 26 days without electricity. The Quebec prime minister at the time even went here and dispatched the army to help us. To this day, I still have the blankets and Fortune bed they gave us. 1998 was a weird year, hahaha!
The ice storm of December 2013 in Ontario was also pretty bad, some people had no power for 5 days and thieves went around looking for empty houses to rob. Dropped down to -15C. It was just before Xmas. I had no salt, but found a hammer worked well to help clear the driveway ice, having left several inches of snow so the ice would form on top of that and could be lifted in huge slabs. The best way to handle any emergency is to plan ahead and be prepared!
I Love Canada 🇨🇦 ❤. But that's the exact reason I live in Pensacola Beach Florida USA 🇺🇸. I'm a Snow Bird 😂❤.
good point XD but we could say the same about hurricanes and venomous things
Same. But I live a lil more south then Pensacola. I love being Canadian but it's nice to be in n Florida when it gets to the negatives in Celsius.
I was 10 years old and i remember this clear as day
Having lived through that disaster, I can tell you that that video didn't do the effects of the storm justice: it was much worse than what was shown--the effects of it lasted for months.
If you're in a cabin in the woods with a nice natural gas powered generator, there is nothing more beautiful. I live in the southern US, North Carolina specifically and we've had a few. Its breathtaking, but absolutely dangerous. All that ice makes trees and powerlines extremely heavy and things just start coming down. In the south this weather is even more dangerous because we don't have the infastructure to handle it and it often snows closely after the ice which just makes the roads more dangerous because people don't realize they are driving on snow over ice. Snow is easier to drive on, ice is nearly impossible. The last time we had this problem, I just had to sleep at a hotel, I was never making it home. I had to wait for the trucks and plows to clear things overnight. I couldn't get home and it was just a 10-15 min drive. There were memes and pics of that storm everywhere. We have a lot of hills in this area and people did a lot of stupid things. One person reved their engine so hard trying to get up a hill it caught on fire. The fire burned so hot it melted the asphalt..... on a major road, in front of the most expensive steak house in the state. The fire department couldn't get there because everything was blocked with traffic. The government knew the storm was coming and probably should have made people close offices..... but it happened so fast, we were all screwed in an hour. I went to the hotel after 2 hours of trying to get home. Some of my coworkers spent 6-8 hours getting home.
When events like this happen in one area, power crews come from all over to help. Those 600 crews they had came from all over Canada and I'm guessing they also got a bunch of crews from the US.
Where were you in the storm of 93? I live in the far western North Carolina and we ended up with almost 30" of snow. Everything was shut down for 2 weeks
It is true that most materials become more brittle and fragile in freezing temperatures, but mostly these trees and electrical pylons etc. collapse under the insane weight of ice covering them. Even snow can do that, but this is not fluffy snow, this is solid ice. Freezing rain is one of the worst. The thing is... under certain circumstances, you can have water under 0°C, that is not frozen. "Supercooled" water is very unstable and freezes instantly on impact etc. So the rain freezes immediately after falling on something.
Look for some video about supercooled water, it looks like magic. Pretty scary "magic" in this instance.
I lived in Ontario then and it was affected as well but not as bad. Jump ahead twenty years later and we had another one. 40 foot trees just froze and broke off everywhere. It was a complete mess. I’ll never forget it. EVERYTHING was covered in at least 3 niches of ice.
Ice is heavy and freezing rain has very little air bubbles so it's more compact than regular ice which is what makes it even more dangerous. I was only a teenager back then but I still remember how we couldn't go out anywhere, once the power was out even stores were closed so if you stayed home you had to find a way to stay warm and hopefully you had enough food to last through the days. If this happened again, it would undoubtedly be equally bad, the only thing that might change is that we now know the effects an ice storm has and it might be easier to assemble emergency crews but the infrastructure can only take so much. And yes please do a part 2 to this, it's a very interesting storm that now many people heard about back in the day.
For your information, In Canada, being out of power in January is dangerous. You could die frozen, as temperatures are usally around -10C in average in January in the Montreal area. We had to leave our homes and go to shelters where they had generators.
Our furnace broke down one year. Took about 2-3 days to get a repair. We had a little space heater so we all slept in the living room. I ddi t even want to get up to use the rest room.
After Hurricane Sandy , we had no heat and no power for the whole month of November
I was young when this happened but I remember it all too well. Even in Ontario it was something else - living in the country we were used to power outages for a couple days at a time but this was a solid week and there was no break from the ice. Not even near the thick of things and it was the worst weather I've ever experienced. So many injuries from older folks in our town and accidents all over the place. Truly wild.
Lived through this. Was wild.
In some parts of Canada, it gets below minus 50 degrees celsius.
the gasoline in your car turns into gel.
but snow sure is pretty.
I was 14 in Ottawa. Our heat was electric and had no power for weeks. Near the end, generators were shared throughout the neighborhood when needed. Fires in makeshift stoves. We were stronger people after this.
I've lived through minor ice storms here in Vancouver, B.C. But nothing like what Montreal went through, thank Heave.
Oh wow!
I was 8 and we miss school for 2month it was awesome!
I dodged a major bullet on that one. I was living in Ottawa but moved down to Waterloo for University. I left Ottawa about 3 days before the ice storm and my new area did not get hit.
Lots of folks in my city lost power for a week. It was insane.
I was 17 when this happened.. i got lucky, didn't lose hydro for days but the trees were beautiful covered in ice. i was living by the american border in quebec/vermont in stanstead, 2 hrs away from montreal.
Yep..I live in Montreal, been through this
2013 was probably one of the worst
I am 42 years old and I was there in the middle of it when it happened in 1998 and I can tell you that even if they would have wanted to the Government couldn't do much it was the wrath of God and nature. We had to do our best to help each other, survive and remember the heroes who went into dangerous suicidal mission to give us back electricity so we have power and heat during winter. These heroes had to be drop from helicopter on top of icy giant power pylon and transfer connection to another line. There was no way for them to stay hook to the helicopter the wind were too dangerous and no way to fully attach themselves to the pylon to prevent themselves from falling. These heroes manage to do it and to connect us to another line that was not broken and a huge percentage of people could finally have power after days of cold temperature. No one died doing this suicidal mission and I will always remember them in my heart and have huge respect even if I do not know them to have attempt something this crazy. If they would have slip the other would have not been able to support their weight and not slip also from atop the pylon and they came out alive. Thank you again for these heroes and all of the 600 people who work night and day to cut trees, clean street from dangerous cable and metal.
It was terrifying and so beautiful at the same time....and we kid at the time were so happy because we didn't have school for a month haha
Ok gentlemen we need part 2 now please.😊
I live in Ottawa Canada and lived 2 weeks without power had to move out and live with freinds who had lights and heat. my daughter was 8 years old.
we got hit with an ice storm couple winters ago. Knocked out the power for three days. It always amazes me (even though I've experience it multiple times now) Just how much weight is in an inch of ice. Course the ice was bad in that last storm. But it was the 45 MPH winds that just snapped power poles like they were toothpicks.
those electrical pylons are made of reinforced steel, I was a teenager when this storm hit and lived just on the edge of it
I was living in a condo in Gatineau when it happened. I was the only one in my family with electricity. Many of my family members who did not have electricity came to live with me until it came back on for them. There weren't many deaths, but the ones which occured were usually from carbon monoxide poisoning when people tried to keep warm by lighting their barbecues in enclosed spaces (like garages.)
Doors and windows would be frozen shut. Horrifying! 😢
The only thing that really scares me in nature is an ice storm.
The things break because of the immense added weight of the ice. Telephone poles that weighed 1 metric ton normally, weighed 43.5 metric tons with all the ice.
16:25 what he is saying here isnt just about shelters. He is saying, leave the region if you can, go live with other members of your family or long distance friends if you can. There is no power, and we cannot keep up with the storm
A majority of the power lines in Montréal are now underground. This includes phonelines and internet lines
This hit Nova Scotia as well and everything in between
Canadians are
Taught as children to always have enough food to last a couple weeks and candles and blankets.
Canadian here - You would think that makes sense to do - but I know many of my neighbors now, do not have three days of food in their house. And they would be clueless how to start a fire.
I was there. I lived it. Everyone ran to the stores for bottled water and cash at the ATMs. I was very anxious. We could not leave the island because of the bridges. Essential services still needed to operate. They can't stay home.
I haven't been through a storm that bad, but I have been without electricity for days during the winter because of a storm. I understand why people didn't leave. You think it is going to be over soon, that you only need to wait a little while and things will return to normal. Remember, when you have no electricity, you can't always get the news, so you don't know what is happening.
Would like to see part 2
It took me 1 month to get power back. It was horrible
What was not told was that the western provinces was sending wood to them to try to help them stay warm.
Please do a part 2!
Yo! My high school remained open during all this and so of course my parents made me go. That first Monday, my friends and I skipped our classes. There wasn't anything to do there really, because mostly everyone stayed home. Luckily my area wasn't too badly effected, and we didn't lose power.