Cottagers Head To Uncertain Damage Up North

Many will wind up at cottages that have no electricity.

And others could find a tree in their living room.

It all follows Wednesday’s fierce series of storms that brought high winds and drenching rain to some areas and tornados to others.

Damage was so bad in Peterborough that cottage owners are being asked not to come there at all. Things are also unsettled in Haliburton, the Kawarthas and Muskoka, where downed trees and power lines are creating havoc for those trying to clean things up.

A tornado left Combermere in shambles, with many trailers still tangled by the twister.

But despite the warnings, a lot of diehard city folk are still planning to make the trip anyway.

“We’re just going to be on the main highways, which we suppose are fine,” one traveller notes. “And we’re going to Quetico which is way out of the wind storm area. Hopefully there won’t be another wind storm.”  

But at least one woman plans to take advantage of the fact the juice has been cut.

“When the power goes down nobody can make you cook,” she laughs. “You sit back and have another beer.”

But it has been anything but relaxing for the estimated 75,000 customers who are still blacked out. Hydro officials assure they’re doing their best to get everyone reconnected but point out some of the affected areas are remote and getting the repair equipment there isn’t easy.

“When the storm hit at its peak, we had 150,000 without power and we have returned power to about 100,000 people,” explains Hydro’s Laura Cooke.

“But it is the beginning of the long weekend, and they are probably wondering when the power will be restored. And the answer to the question is we will work round the clock until we have everybody restored. We have 1,100 field staff working on power restoration.”

The good news is there are no more such storms on the horizon. The bad news is many won’t have power back until at least Tuesday – the day after the long weekend ends.