When it comes to dealing with the unexpected – good planning and good staff make all the difference.
On March 29, Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton and CAO Andy Goldie spent considerable effort praising staff for their efforts during the Easter weekend ice storm.
“I want to express my appreciation to staff for all the hard work done over the past weekend,” said Linton.
“There were thousands of people without power – in some cases for several hours, in some cases for several days.”
He noted that on March 24 neither the Elora, nor the Fergus community centres had power.
Linton was driving past the Elora community centre just as the power went out.
“People were trying to get out and it was pitch black with only a couple of little lights on. It makes us recognize how vulnerable we are.”
As to the efforts of staff during the emergency Linton said. “I can’t say enough about the staff from the CAO all the way down to front line staff, in how they handled the situation.”
Staff and elected representatives were in communication via a Blackberry messaging system.
Linton added “We met as an emergency management committee on Friday morning. The exciting thing for me was that it was clear everyone knew what their roles and responsibilities were. There was no questioning of who was supposed to do what.”
Over all, Linton said “there was a lot of good cooperation, collaboration and teamwork.
He added the new communications coordinator “was fabulous” and was getting information out via traditional and social media.
Linton said a debriefing session was set up “to deal with any little hiccups” to ensure any areas of improvement are looked at.
He also gave special thanks to Centre Wellington Hydro for going above and beyond.
Staff kept the Fergus Sportsplex open three nights in a row – for those experiencing long term power outages, Linton said/
CAO Andy Goldie also offered thanks to staff for their work.
“Not once did staff respond they were too busy, or it was a special time for family … everyone came in usually within a half hour, to get everything up and running.”
“Our first call to the fire department actually came in on Thursday morning at 9am.”
He noted while there were some challenges for staff getting into work on the Thursday morning, the storm intensified that evening.
Goldie said there were downed trees, power lines and staff responded to calls and emergencies while the fire department dealt with effects of downed power lines and transformer fires.
At the same time, the township’s control group was meeting to assess the damage and determine what actions needed to take place.
“We felt the storm was going to last for some time … which determined prioritizing some activities while cleanup was determined to take place later.”
Goldie said the township also initiated its new phone system for the first time – which involved both messaging and directing calls to the appropriate people.
Plus, he added, an emergency banner appeared on the township website with information as to who to call and that the Sportsplex was open as an overnight warming centre.
By Friday, public works and roads staff were clearing roads and making certain roads were safe by clearing trees.
He stressed that staff could not deal with trees which were touching power lines – “that we leave to the professionals – Centre Wellington Hydro or Hydro One.”
The control group continued to communicate throughout the weekend
Goldie noted one of the great things of the current setup is that there is now a written log of when events took place and when specific actions took place such as the closure of a road and when it reopened.
He noted an email from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on March 29, in new steps applying for Ontario Disaster Response Funding is now reaching out to municipalities affected by the ice storm.
Following the ice storm of 2013, “it was the municipalities chasing after the province to get that initiated.”
Goldie said the documentation following the previous storm was instrumental in the township getting funding.
“Now we are in the cleanup portion of the operations over the next several weeks,” Goldie said.
“There is a lot of debris, as you can see driving around local roads.”
“We’ve set a date of April 17 for people to have storm debris set out on the roads.”
Centre Wellington’s managing director of infrastructure services said “Public Works and Environmental Services staff were extremely busy over the Easter weekend dealing with the March 24 ice storm.
He explained the first priority was to ensure township roads were safe for hydro repair crews, emergency services and the travelling public.
Numerous roads throughout the township were closed over the weekend as crews removed fallen trees and limbs from the roads allowing Centre Wellington Hydro, Hydro One, Centre Wellington Fire, and OPP to access areas to deal with repairs and emergencies.
“On Friday March 25, over 150 calls were received by the Township with most calls reporting damaged or downed trees and wires.”
Baker noted “Hydro outages affected some of the township’s water and wastewater infrastructure as well. Well E4 on Cottontail Road, the water booster station in Aboyne, Fergus Wastewater Treatment Plant and sewage pumping stations were without hydro for varying amounts of time.”
Backup generators allowed the township’s water and wastewater systems to continue to sufficiently function throughout the event. All power was restored to the township’s water and wastewater infrastructure by March 28.
Baker noted that while township roads had been reopened; there are still many damaged trees.
Some represent a safety hazard as they may be on hydro lines or overhanging public areas such as parks and sidewalks and township staff and arborist contractors are working on removing the hazard trees within the township’s road allowances, Baker said.
He noted trees on Hydro Lines can be reported to Centre Wellington Hydro at 519-843-2900 or Hydro One at 1-800-434-1235.
Damaged trees within the Township’s road allowance that are posing a public safety hazard can be reported to the Township’s Infrastructure Services department at 519-846-9691 ext. 905.
Township Staff are out in the community picking up broken limbs and brush as a result of the recent ice storm. The Township is providing residents options to deal with damaged trees and brush generated from the ice storm:
Free Disposal at Wellington County Transfer Stations until April 30.
County of Wellington, Belwood Transfer Station, 8585 Wellington Road 19
Hours: Wednesday: 8am-4pm; Friday: 8am-4pm, and Saturday: 8am-4pm
Limbs must be smaller than 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter.
Township Public Works will be removing ice storm generated brush from the roadside over the next few weeks.
Brush piles must be no larger than 3 metres long by 1 metre wide by 1 metre in height (3 cubic metres), with branches less than 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter. Pieces of wood larger than 6 inches in diameter will not be picked up. Leaves, grass and other debris will not be collected. Only one pile per property is permitted. All brush must be placed at the roadside no later than April 17. Brush placed at the roadside after April 17 will not be picked up. For more information about the Townships efforts please visit centrewellington.ca, follow us on Facebook or Twitter @CentrWellington
