Speaking of ice storms

By Taylor McClure, Special to The Record

While Townshippers were on high alert over the weekend because of freezing rain in the forecast, many who lived through the ice storm of 1998 scrambled to prepare batteries and supplies in case of a power outage. This year marks the 22nd anniversary of the ice storm. It was designated one of the worst natural disasters in Canadian history. While two decades have come and gone, the ice storm remains fresh in the memories of many Townshippers as if it were yesterday. Ice storms are, of course, something that we are familiar with here during our winters in Quebec. The intensity of this storm, however, was beyond what anyone expected. On the morning of Jan. 4, 1998, light rain started to fall. Quickly, it started to turn into freezing rain. At the time people didn’t think to prepare themselves. Freezing rain is typical during this time of the year. They assumed they would lose power for a day or so and then everything would go back to normal as usual; but that wasn’t the case. As the days went on, the freezing rain continued and started to build up. Everything outside was coated with a thick layer of ice.  Trees started to break, crack, and fall under pressure of the ice buildup. See full story in the Monday, Jan. 13 edition of The Record.

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