Some Hastings County residents still in the dark after major storm | Belleville Intelligencer

Senior spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa said Thursday people in the utility’s Bancroft, Tweed and Peterborough service areas – including Hastings County north of Highway 7 – should have power “over the next several days … barring the new outages.”

Baccega Rosa said crews prioritize restoring main lines to maximize the number of customers brought back online.

In addition, said Baccega Rosa, “People are returning to their seasonal properties for the first time since the storm and reporting new outages.” As quickly as crews restore power in some places, she said, new outages replace them.

The website adds the storm broke more than 1,900 utility poles – compared to hundreds in past storms – and felled “countless” trees and power lines across Ontario. The Perth area was also among the hardest-hit.

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In Hastings County, the municipalities of Tudor and Cashel, Limerick, Wollaston, and Marmora and Lake, appeared to have sustained the worst damage and power and land-line telephone outages continued Thursday. Hydro One listed dozens of outages in those areas.

Marmora and Lake Mayor Jan O’Neill said some residents in the southern half of her municipality are “worried about a (tree) limb on their roofs” and have “no idea” what those in the north are facing.

She reported heavy damage across a wide area, with the worst around Dickey and Thanet Lakes southwest of Gilmour.

“It’s just utter devastation up there,” said O’Neill. “Almost every cottage property has some kind of damage.”

Deputy Mayor Mike Stevens, a resident of the Dickey Lake area, said the 2002 windstorm caused “one-tenth” of the damage of the latest one. He’s lived in the area for more than 20 years and was previously a cottager there.

Many of those without generators, or who do not live in the area, have either returned home or gone to stay elsewhere, he said.

Those who have stayed are facing mounting costs for fuel, mobile telephone service and more, he said, and insurance won’t cover the full cost of tree removal, etc. on some properties.

Stevens said there is a pervasive feeling “we’ve been forgotten” and residents elsewhere in the county don’t know or care what he and his neighbours are facing.

He also said Hydro One crews are “working their butts off,” but that the company should “communicate more with the media and people about what’s going on” and give clearer estimations of restoration times.

Paramedics faced “very difficult travel” around fallen trees and power lines. They took at least one patient with storm-related injuries to Kingston Health Sciences Centre, he wrote via e-mail.

Stefanski predicted a summer fire ban is possible because of all the dead wood now strewn through the area.

He also said planning for future emergencies is underway and may include the creation of a municipal handbook and purchase of municipal radios. Mobile telephone service in the area is limited.

“We were without cell service for a bit; we were without e-mail in the office for a week.” The municipal office now offers 24-hour wireless internet service and water.

This content was originally published here.

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