Toronto ice storm: 230,000 still without power

Oh, thank gawd Rob is here to save them! That's the sort of leadership that Hogtown needs right now ... the "ice and snow" kind.

[nudge-nudge, wink-wink]

Been on the generator for the last 29 hours.

I blame Obama.

Trouble is...it's not white you can see right through it. All my trees are groaning and complaining.

My parents fortunately have generators for the cattle 'cause Hydro One says they won't have power restored until 10:00pm on Boxing Day (that's near Elora, ON).

ZING!

Are your legs getting tired, yet?

Our power was out for about eight hours, only and it was a local problem (Oakville). We have tree branches down all over but we escaped real damage.

If there are any CKAers who have power out east and know anyone thinking of heating their home by burning something - campstove, BBQ etc. - DO NOT. Discourage anyone you know from doing this.

Burning anything produces Carbon Monoxide, and it will kill them. A little Hibachi is more than enough to kill everyone in a 2 story home if there is no fresh air circulating.

Candles actually produce quite a bit of heat, and a few of them don't produce enough CO to kill you. Or, heat water in big pots on the BBQ outside, and bring the pots inside.

It's events like that, and the expected 9.1 out here, that make me happy I have a fireplace.

Power outages here were really weird. We lost power around midnight on Saturday and it came back on sometime early this morning.
At my house, most of the downstairs had no power and where there was some power, it wasn't enough. Turn on the kitchen light and it would glow dimly but not light up. Yet strangely, the top half of my house was completely powered. I had computer but no internet, TV but no cable and all the lights worked. Thank God I had a good space heater.

What was really cool was on Saturday night there was lightning flashing, but it wasn't the usual colour. It was like someone was quickly turning a bright green neon sign on and off.

It's events like that, and the expected 9.1 out here, that make me happy I have a fireplace.

A few years ago we were in the low -40s (-49 iirc) and the power cut out. It came back on 30 seconds later (a very long 30 seconds) but I realized I had no plan. So after hanging around auctions for a bit I managed to get a 5kW Genset for cheap. Never had to use it, but I know if power cuts out, I can make my own for 24 - 36 hours. A fireplace is handy too.

Good, no internet. You can see all people living with you, even get know their names and age.