or when an icestorm hits !
in the icestorm of jan 1998 practically the whole area of eastern ontario and quebec was without power for up to three weeks - and it was bitterly cold !
thousands upon thousands of trees come down - our citypark lost half its trees and the other half was heavily damaged . luckily only two people got killed - from smoke inhalation when firing up a woodstove !
we moved into a hotel for four nights where the hydro-workers staid who had set up a temporary supply line
!
the main problem was that transmission towers collapsed like matchsticks under the weight of the ice on the transmission lines !
the towers and lines have now been re-designed so that the lines will come down under heavy iceload without pulling the towers down .
still not ideal but better than having the towers tumble down .
hbg
