The Ice Storm of 1998
The Ice Storm of 1998 was one of the most devastating natural disasters in Canadian history, with rural Ontario hit especially hard, including communities around Athens. Days of freezing rain coated trees, power lines, and buildings with thick layers of ice, causing widespread power outages that lasted weeks in some rural areas. Farmers in the Athens region faced enormous challenges as barns collapsed, fences were destroyed, livestock were left without heat or electricity, and access to feed and water became difficult. Many families relied on generators, wood stoves, and help from neighboUrs to survive the prolonged cold. Despite the hardship, the storm also revealed the strength and resilience of rural communities, as residents worked together to clear debris, care for animals, and support one another during an incredibly difficult time.
Photographs by Colin Campbell '98
Aubrey, Mark. The Ice Storm - An Historic Record in Photographs of January 1998. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc. 1998.
Lyndhurst Ice Storm ‘98
On January 28th, 1998, an article was published by Julie Gamble about the early morning of January 8th ’98. Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne was stated a place of emergency and those people got evacuated from their homes to spend the night at the Lyndhurst legion. Community member got the shelter going with cooked meal and kept it open during the blackout. They feed those people who had gone to the shelter and army officers, hydro, telephone workers. The had supplied enough food 35-118 people every meal. OPP officer and army member and the St Johns Ambulance wen to people door to encourage those people with no heat to go to shelter. Farmers lost Gallons of milk because of the lack of electricity to facilities the milk like it would usually. The local Fire department helped cleaning the roads of the fallen trees and took the wood to the families who needed it to heat their homes.
"Cows, Ice and One Generator"
A local story of Ray Pattemore, a farmer, through the 1998 Ice storm Interviewed by A.D.H.S. student Katherine Pattemore (his daughter)
A true story of perseverance and struggles
The ice storm of 1998 was a major turning point for weather in Canada and putting many at risk with no power or necessities and the closed road and slick conditions made it very hard for workers to get things done. For farmers the job was almost impossible to do in the conditions. I had the opportunity of interviewing Ray Pattemore, 40 years old at the time he told me the story of his struggles as a farmer at the time, his meals and the truth of what farmer had to go through during the 1998 ice storm. Ray lived on Scott Road at the time with his wife with his own cattle to tend to, his dad Howard Pattemore and his brother Steve and His wife lived 1 road over with their own cattle. “We shared the generator 3 ways between Clifford me and dad's farm.” “Clifford lived 1 mile away, but I remember having to move trees off the road and it taking 3 times as long as it usually does” stated Ray. “The cows had to be milked twice a day at 6am and 6pm we adjusted it so it could work for the 3 farms something like 2 and 2” “ it rotated through the three the milking was the most important” Ray explained, “ the cattle at Dad’s farm had to be just fed and the house had to be warmed back up so the generator was not needed as long there” Ray explain to ADHS High school student Katherine Pattemore. “ I had people coming and buying fuel from me because I had a hand pump” Ray exclaimed, The high need for fuel was intense during the aftermath of the storm and with no electricity for weeks and some remote towns or communities almost to almost over a month without electricity. The Pattemore’s also took the initiative to prepare meals for hydro workers who were addressing the aftermath of the storm. Married at the time, Ray had to become very strategic and planned out when it came to meals and sleep “3-to-4-hour sleep at night that's what we averaged”. Quick warmed up canned foods were what they ate as it was easy to prepare. The energy, time and the money that went into this extreme weather event in eastern Ontario and Quebec history.
The Great Ice Of ‘98
Written by A.D.H.S. student Bailey Knapp (family member)
Even though I had no power, I still ate like a king. On Sunday, January 4th, 1998, at 808 Plum Hollow Rd, Ontario the bitter icy cold rain fell for about 3-4 days. All the icy rain left one inch of ice on everything, so much you could skate on the road. As I stepped outside, the frozen silence was all around except the trees snapping under all the stress. All the icy rain took out the power lines, leaving us without power for 2 weeks.
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Having a dairy farm with 55 to 60 head, we borrowed a generator from my Uncle Joe twice a day to milk the cows. The generator was only used for the barn. In the house for heat, we used two wood stoves. We had a freezer full of beef, a cellar full of preserves and some potatoes to eat during the ice storm. This natural disaster affected my family; it created more manual labour in the barn from feeding the cows to cleaning the stalls. We tried to maintain the normal milking schedule, but it was difficult when borrowing a generator from my Uncle Joe.
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We never left the farm unless it was to go to 155 Scott Rd. The busy house of Lois Knapp was full of people. My nanny (Lois Knapp) had a propane stove, so we went up to her house 7-8 times to visit and eat with everyone. The first time we went up to her house the road had fallen trees and branches on them. So, my family cleaned the road by cutting the trees with a chain saw and moving them off the road just to go up to my nanny’s.
One of the only ways to hear about what was going on outside of 808 Plum Hollow Rd; was on the radio. Bruce Wylie was the radio host during this time and talked about who had extra food to give, people’s basement flooding and updates from Hydro. That was the only communication we got for the two weeks, you couldn't call people or have a social life.
After two weeks the power went back on, and the ice and snow slowly melted all away. So, we no longer rely on the generator to milk or the radio to know what was going on with everyone else. Two weeks of quiet in Southern Ontario we had to go back to reality; school was back on, so was power, cars on the road again and people's lives went back to normal. Even though it was almost 30 years ago behind 808 Plum Hollow Rd, traces of this ice storm lie in the bushes to this day.
