One of the Most Astonishing Natural Disasters Ever (Ice Storm of 1998)

18 Comments

1. Did you live through it? What was your experience?

2. I was one of the lucky ones on the north shore. Only the school didn't have electricity but we did, so I ended up playing FF7 for a week. Family members from Saint-Hyacinth came to live with us for a while until everything came back to normal.

3. i'm a survivor of this ice storm,i was 16 years old and was living in St-Cyrille De Wendover (near Drummondville) wich was among the most affected area….. A 4 weeks long power outage. We had the chance to have a wood stove so heating was not a problem but we had no generator to power the water pump of the artesian well, so no water…. shit in a bucket and other great experiences lol

4. I lived threw the ice storm of 1998 Maine. I lost my Roof to my home. We had no power for months. It was the most horrible event of my life. It is so hard to explain when you almost don't make it. Hypothermia is beyond what you can understand.

5. Great documentary but could not watch to the end – that music! Ew!

6. Well done documentary that covers the event. Yes I lived through it. I was living in Montreal and working downtown Montreal at the time. I was aware of the increasing power failures starting on Wednesday outside Montreal. The big hit was on the black Friday (Jan. 9) when power went down in the afternoon. I left office early and I walked home in slush, snow and ice. It was black everywhere except for the car lights and the army was very present and reassuring for me. My boots and feet were soaking wet up to my ankles. I called my brother when I got home to make sure he and his family were fine. He came to get me because he had propane heating in his house and we knew by then that the damages were extensive and situation would last a long time. We manage to cross the Mercier bridge just before it was closed (like all the bridges) to remove the ice. The next morning, it was freezing temperature about -15C. Ice was everywhere. I remember that Saturday the propane delivery man showing up. I was so surprised that he had managed to drive all the way to the house without trees blocking the road. I did not have to go to emergency center I was privileged.

7. Fantastic doc. Cant wait to see more videos from this channel.

8. I was only 4 when it happened. I lived in the Southshore on Montreal. I remember going to my Grandparents because they had power. I don't remember much of it, but it was exciting in the eyes of a preschooler. It's really cool to see how disastrous it really was.

9. The first couple days without power allowed us to spend quality time with my wife and our 3 & 4 yo. We made tents in our apartment and had lots of fun playing games with the kids. But by the 3rd day it was just too cold and we moved in to my father in law since he had power of and on at least. I was going to the apartment everyday to see if power had come back and check if all was fine. After a week long during one of my security checks the power came back. I waited for 2 hours and the power held so i retreaded to pick up my little family and get them back home. On our way back just as i was turning the corner to our bloc apartment my cousin comes running to the car yelling at me that theirs smoke in my apartment!!! I literally parked the car in the middle of the busy street, told my wife to stay in it and take care of the kids and ran upstairs to the 3rd floor with my cousin which was living at the apartment right beside me at the time. As we where going up, the smoke was getting thicker and we proceeded in inspecting my apartment. we could only see smoke but no source of fire?? We lost touch for a moment while i was inspecting the rooms opposite of the front door and the smoke was still getting thicker and thicker. Then all of a sudden my cousin yells at me from far away to get out of there and that the fire was underneath me. He was at the second floor and noticed it was coming from the apartment underneath mine. I ran to the front door but by that time the smoke was so thick i could barely breath properly and i couldn't see a thing so i just trough myself down the stairs and rolled all the way to the second floor. I got up and we both ran outside and we called 911. The fire department was literally 200 feet up the street but they where so overwhelmed with calls that it took them what seemed an eternity to get on site. It was just heartbreaking being there looking at our lives burn down while waiting for the firemen. By that time the janitor had arrived and he had a masters key to open all doors so… we took the stupidest decision ever with my cousin. We ran back in to open the door and try to extinguish the fire ourselves!! Some neighbors from other blocs saw us and got fire extinguishers and followed us in. In seconds with help of even bystanders we formed a human chain and started getting water from the apartments beside and threw it at the fire with pots and pans and buckets and anything we could get our hands on. I happened to be the last guy in front throwing the water and it was surreal. With every hit, the fire seemed like a monster raising his hands screaming for its life. That view is in printed in my brain forever. The firemen finally arrived, kicked us all out and took control from there and managed to save the building. Their was heavy damage to our apartment and we lived at my parents for 5 months until it was rebuilt. The investigation revealed that our downstairs neighbor was cooking and had a pan with oil on the stove when the power went down and when it came back after a week the whole thing caught on fire. Poor her, she was so miserable and sorry for it. So the stupidest decision of our lives but i like to think that we managed to save an apartment or two if not the building. All in all when the sun finally came back after a week, it was the call for even worst for us. The city and the whole south of the province seemed like it got besieged and bombarded by mother nature for a week. I can't imagine the fear that goes through the minds of those that lived real bombs and bullets raining on them. You my friend, have brought tears to my eyes with this video. But amazing job a usual. Well done.

10. I was lucky because I lived in the Plateau where most of the power lines are underground. We lost power for only a few days. My parents were less lucky, they live on the South Shore and were out of power for a month. I went there on the weekend to chop firewood, but the wood was green and covered in ice. My father and I would try to remove as much ice as possible before chopping the logs. Then we would lay the chopped wood on the floor in the basement to try to dry them out. Then finally we would stack the relatively dry pieces of wood around the fireplace to dry them out further, before finally burning them. After about 10 days my parents finally abandoned their home and stayed at my sister's apartment in Montreal, where she had power. My sister had been in Toronto over the Christmas holidays, and couldn't return to Montreal because the roads were iced up. She had to watch the disaster unfold on television, knowing all her family was trapped here.

    What was so weird, is that after about a week life was back to normal in the Plateau, but you could take a short metro ride to the South Shore, and Saint-Lambert, where I grew up, looked like a war zone. I'll never forget the incongruity it, it was hard to believe we were in the same city (metropolitan area).

11. This was surreal! It's really impressive what happened and how people got organized to have their lives back to normal. HydroQuebec must have learnt so many lessons from the storm.

12. I was 12 when it happened. I remember clearly coming back from my friend's house the Sunday afternoon when it all started. I was playing to walk over the snow coated with ice without breaking it. We lost power over the next days. Since my parents were into camping we had warm winter sleeping bags and camping stove and fuel. Luckily, we were in Laval, outside the worst areas. We had power back within days but only for short periods and in alternance. My best friend was living in the other sector. So, our families were moving from house to house depending which one had electricity. I remember having a good with with my family and my friend.

13. I was 22 years old and I was living downtown Montreal. It felt like the end of the world, a war zone with all the military. Worst day by day. I'm watching this video and I'm shaking and crying. I started to cry within the first 3 min. It's really disturbing to see. It's like reliving it, even 24 years later! We've been told it was possible we had to leave the city, by foot… but to go where? I remember on the south shore they called the CN rails & CP rails to get a locomotive in the town. @17:50 Locomotive works with Diesel power generator onboard. They provided electricity to shelters and utilities like water and sewage. As they say at the end… it was the Perfect Ice Storm.

14. @35:41 Gotta love the Truckers!!

15. I lived in St-Micheal at the time. The apartment went from 21 degrees to 10 degrees within an hour of loosing power on Tuesday morning. Though it was beautiful it was also scary.

16. I didn't live through it but i know people who did. They said it was like an apocalypse.

17. A tribute to the resiliency of people in the face of major challenges.

18. This is cool.

Comments are closed.