During the Great Ice Storm Canada was unprepared to manage many of the problems occurring during and after the Ice Storm. The Great Ice Storm occurred on January 5th 1998 and ended on the 10th. For more than 80 hours 120 mm of steady freezing rain and drizzle fell over several thousand square miles of land and accumulated on everything it landed such as branches and metal causing them to bend or break.
Parts of Eastern Canada were affected such as Eastern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as well as parts of North Eastern America (New York and Maine).Temperatures reached below 0 and with it came high wind pressures. Thousands of people suffered from hypothermia as well as a shortage of foods due to power outages resulting in no heat in homes. There had been 25 deaths of hypothermia and over 600 000 people in parts of Eastern Canada were having to leave there homes to move into shelters for safety, warmth and food.
The ice storm even caused over $500 million dollars worth of property damage in parts of Eastern Canada. It took 72 hours before the Canadian government realized the Great Ice Storm was going to be as savior as it was.If the government had warned or informed the people sooner then the population would have taken more preventative measures then what they did such as buying extra generators to maintain heat and light in the homes. Extra wood for wood fired stoves as well as insuring car vehicles were kept inside garages. People might have made provision for the elderly and children to move away from the danger zone to friends and relatives.
These measures would have helped to reduce the amount of number of claims made to insurance companies and the government.During the Ice storm there was great economic loss and disruption to the economy of Quebec and Eastern Canada. Agriculture was particularly effected more then other parts of the economy. Over 5,500 dairy farmers in Quebec and Ontario who were affected by the Ice Storm, lost an estimated $5.
3 million dollars worth of dairy produces due to shortages of generators for the processing of milk. During the storm crisis many would share the same generators for the milking of cows.The maple industry was particularly hard hit due to 21 million taps were damaged by the storm. This was caused by the weight of the ice on millions of branches causing them to snap and break off. The damage to the Maple Industry was so, bad that it was estimated that it would take at least 30 to 40 years for production to reach pre-storm levels.
The local government, initially had problems assessing the degree of seriousness that the ice storm had, as the weather was expected to normalize in the coming days and consequently the power cuts would be temporary.The Provincial Government therefore never declared the situation a state of emergency or a disaster, which later had legal consequences regarding insurance matters. Que Lucien Bouchard felt bitter criticism due to the request of assistance until almost 72hrs after storm began. Due to the late start for preparedness damages began to accumulate and the total at end was seen as being $2 billion doll.
The provincial government should have declared the state of emergency earlier.This would have given them access to more resources earlier in the disaster. Such as providing more troops earlier, along with hard ware such as generators For the amount of time Canada took to realize how bad the Ice Storm had been it was too late for them to prepare. Most damages were claimed by businesses and individuals, which could have been prevented. If awareness and supplies were given immediately to those suffering many of the damages as well as health risks that occurred wouldn't have been as savior.
