Cottagers still without power

ONTARIO - It could be August 9 before power is restored to some of the areas worst hit by a storm that smashed through cottage country recently.

That's the prognosis from Hydro One, which has at least 900 workers going flat out to clear downed trees and repair power lines.

So far they've managed to restore power to about 130,000 customers, but at least another 20,000 homes remain in the dark, Barb Dow, a spokesperson for Hydro One, said recently.

And without power for their pumps or refrigerators, many cottagers and year-round residents are making do without running water and perishable foods.

The utility said World Weather Watch has confirmed tornadoes touched down in West Guilford and Minden Hills in Haliburton and Combermere in the Madawaska Valley August 2.

Most homes still without power are centred in the Minden area (9,500 homes), while other areas that continue to be most affected include Bracebridge in Muskoka and Bancroft further east.

Dow said that some of the most heavily damaged areas off Highway 507 south of Gooderham to Flynn's Corners won't see power restored until at least August 9.

The biggest problem is still removing trees from downed power lines — some of them huge 50- to 100-year-old maple and pine trees that were either snapped in half or pulled out of the ground by their roots.

Everyone's still talking about the storm in Minden, Reeve Jim McMahon said.

"We were sitting having dinner when what sounded like a freight train went by the front door," said McMahon. "As the old-timers say, if you hear a train whistle and there's no train, you know there's a tornado coming through."

McMahon said Hydro One helicopters continued to fly around August 7 trying to locate downed lines, while his municipality's emergency crews have worked 35 hours straight to open roads.

Other residents said many of the older people in the area are either being helped through a buddy system or have gone south to live with relatives.

"We're managing," said Randy Metcalfe, who lives near Carnarvon, north of Minden, and bought a generator last week. "We're good neighbours. It's the north. We help each other."

James Benedet, 76, who cottages all summer on Kennisis Lake in Haliburton, said his granddaughter had to bring a generator from Windsor on August 5 because their frozen food was finally beginning to thaw after power went out August 2.

"We panicked while trying to keep the food frozen," he said.

Meanwhile, one person was killed and another seriously injured in separate boating accidents August 7. A man in his 20s drowned when a small pedal boat overturned in Georgian Bay near Midland; a 28-year-old Barrie woman was struck by a motorboat and seriously injured while snorkelling in Kempenfelt Bay in Lake Simcoe.