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On March 10, 1989, a massive solar storm erupted off the sun putting Earth right in its crosshairs.
Three days later, the storm hit Earth, knocking out power to all of Quebec in 90 seconds as the James Bay network overloaded and went offline.
Every person in Canada’s largest province sat in the dark for the next nine hours.
That outage forced the provincial government to upgrade the power network.
Hydro-Quebec spent billions of dollars to harden the system against another such occurrence.
The province may have protected itself against storms from space, but storms on Earth were another story.
Nine years later in 1998, Quebec was rocked once again and left in the dark when power grids went down and stayed down.
Not for hours.
But days.
Then weeks.
What started out as some rain became one of the worst natural disasters North of the 49.
I’m Craig Baird, this is Canadian History Ehx and today we’re going right into the eye of the 1998 Ice Storm!
As the clock wound down to midnight on Jan. 1, 1998, Canadians celebrated the arrival of a-new year, with all it had to promise.
In Toronto, the city officially amalgamated with six other nearby communities to form a megacity. From 1867 until that day, Montreal had been Canada’s most populous city.
On Jan. 1, 1998, Toronto took the title and has held it ever since.
The next day, on the other side of the country, three separate avalanches struck in British Columbia, killing nine people.
Two days later, on Jan. 4, an upper-level low system moved over the Great Lakes and then…just stopped.
This stalled system pumped in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, sending warm temperatures to the St. Lawrence River Valley.
People ventured outside to enjoy the last of their Christmas holidays, in unseasonably warm weather in what felt as a bonus gift from Mother Nature.
What no one knew was that the warm weather would come at a price.
While that upper-level low system hung out over the Great Lakes, a high-pressure centre in Labrador sent very cold air from the west down over the St. Lawrence Valley, stretching from Ottawa to south of Montreal.
These two systems had their own mix and a-mingle in but instead of jinglin’ feet it produced something every driver hates, freezing rain.
Freezing rain happens when precipitation becomes supercooled while passing through a sub-freezing layer of air hundreds of metres above the ground.
When it encounters a surface, whether it is sidewalks, trees, or powerlines, it freezes on contact.
This layer of ice is not only slippery, but very heavy.
If enough freezing rain falls, it becomes an ice storm, a very disruptive weather event.
Freezing rain itself is nothing new for the St. Lawrence River Valley.
Montreal experiences freezing rain about 12 to 17 times per year, averaging 45 to 65 total hours of rain.
A storm in 1961 left 30 millimetres of freezing rain around Montreal and as a result the province upgraded its power lines and towers to handle the weight of 40 millimetres of freezing rain.
For the most part, the area is quite prepared for the weather phenomenon which typically lasts for only a few hours before it moves on along the St. Lawrence River.
An annoyance for sure, but generally a temporary one.
That would not be the case for the storm that settled over the St. Lawrence River Valley at the start of 1998.
As the storm began over Montreal, Ottawa, and many rural communities on Jan. 5, most residents likely expected the system to move on soon after.
That was not to be.
Over the Atlantic, there was a strong Bermuda high pressure area. This system prevented the system over Labrador and the system over the Great Lakes from moving, effectively blocking it and holding it in place. For 80 hours, precipitation ranged from steady freezing rain to a drizzle, over thousands of square kilometres.
With each passing hour, the weight of the ice on trees, telephone lines, and transmission towers increased.
By the time it was over, and the weather systems finally moved east on Jan. 10, the storm had dumped 40 millimetres of freezing rain on Montreal, and they got off easy considering.
From Ottawa to Kingston, there was 60 millimetres of ice covering everything in sight and from Brockville to Cornwall, Ontario, 80 millimetres.
An area south of Montreal, stretching from Saint-Hyacinthe, Granby, and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, became known as the Triangle of Darkness, as 100 millimetres of freezing rain fell on it.
Residents watched their lights flicker as the freezing rain fell.
Then, as electrical towers collapsed under the weight of ice, darkness.
I asked you about your own experiences in the storm on social media and received dozens of replies which I will share throughout this episode.
Meanwhile back in 1998 as the storm moved east by Jan. 10, 1,000 transmission towers had collapsed along with an estimated 35,000 wooden utility poles taking down power lines across hundreds of kilometres of Ontario and Quebec.
That means that over four million people were without electricity, two-thirds of which were in Quebec.
Montreal had to close bridges and tunnels leading in and out of the city out of fear that they were being pushed to their ice and weight tolerance. Adding vehicles to them would only create a risk of collapse.
In the city, only one power link remained, giving a fortunate few the ability to keep the lights on. For nearly everyone in a city mostly heated by electricity, darkness and cold became the norm.
Some called the storm The Great Leveler, stating that the poor and rich s alike were affected.
But this wasn’t quite true.
Those with the funds were able to get away from the storm before things got too bad.
The Canadian Snowbird Association stated there was a sharp increase in departures from Montreal and Ottawa for warmer climates during the storm.
Those left behind had to manage the best they could.
Amanda Beth was without power in her Montreal apartment for nine days. She didn’t have a car or generator, and worked part-time so there was no money for a hotel.
Everyone around her was in the same state.
Sadly, on the fourth day without power, her pet lovebird died from the cold.
Meanwhile in Kingston, 80 percent of its downtown core lost power.
The storm left 600,000 people displaced from their homes across Ontario and Quebec.
It also resulted in emergency rooms filling.
945 injuries were reported, ranging from sprained ankles to chainsaw wounds from people who tried to clear trees off their property.
Sadly, 35 people died during and after the storm.
Among the dead were 10 who died from burns they received from using lamps and candles to stay warm.
Another six died from carbon monoxide poisoning as ice blocked furnace vents, sending the scentless and poisonous gas into homes.
Four people died when they fell off their roof, trying to clear the weight of the ice from their homes.
To make matters worse, a week after the ice storm spread havoc across the region, a bitter cold settled in.
Thousands of people without power were also without heat. Police went door-to-door, ordering people to leave for warming shelters.
Susan Waterhouse was given 24 hours to relocate to a shelter or find a place to stay.
She and her family drove from their home to Drummondville and spent the next four weeks with her in-laws.
Many chose to stay in their homes. Some died of hypothermia.
The headline on the front of Montreal’s La Presse newspaper summed up the situation in two words.
It’s Hell.
Meanwhile roads were blocked with fallen trees and powerlines. Thousands of people were sitting in shelters, not knowing when they could return home.
Neelu Shanker was one of those people. She was without power, her house was too cold to stay in and with no vacancies at hotels, she spent nine days in a shelter.
A VIA Rail train going from Ottawa to Toronto took 18 hours to reach its destination due to fallen trees on the track.
To deal with the unprecedented storm, the Canadian Forces were called in to help.
The Ontario Premier Mike Harris asked for help from the Armed Forces almost immediately, but Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard waited 72 hours to request help, something he received a great deal of criticism for.
Bouchard said,
“The rules were unwritten; we didn’t foresee something like this happening. There was no security plan drawn up. It was so unlikely.”
Over 15,000 troops were mobilized from 200 bases across Canada. Dubbed Operation Recuperation, it became the largest operational deployment of Canadian troops since the Korean War four decades earlier.
Even military students at the Royal Military College in Kingston were put to work, setting up cots in shelters.
Many of the troops were still on leave for Christmas and were given little notice.
Major Danielle Masse said,
“After receiving our deployment orders, we were given two hours to let our families know, get ready and leave on a school bus for Montreal.”
Some of the troops were affected by the ice storm themselves when they got called up.
Lisa Vaters was living in the Uplands area and pregnant when her spouse had to leave.
Her neighbours quickly sprang into action, offering her warm place to stay as their homes had electricity while hers did not.
Chief Warrant Officer William Richards stated that when the ice storm hit, it was all hands-on deck. He said,
“We wanted to get out there and help people. Petawawa was deployed immediately.”
Richards and 35 other soldiers were assigned to clear trees from properties and roads with chainsaws, working 12 hours a day to get the job done.
Troops worked clearing roads, rescuing people trapped in their homes because of icy roads, helping farmers with their animals, and feeding over 100,000 people in shelters.
Some troops took locomotives and hooked them up to power grids so the diesel engines could provide power to critical services in communities.
Helicopters flew over the affected area, using truck tires on chains to knock ice off towers to limited success.
Some troops even helped to milk cows on farms.
When they arrived at the home of Carolyn Congreves, they found her alone with three children and nine months pregnant.
Her rural home was heated by a wood stove, but the family did not have electricity or telephone service.
Since everyone was warm and had food and water, the troops left her with a cell phone in case she went into labour and needed to call for help.
On Jan. 13, military troops took on the duties of peace officers to ensure law and order in some areas of Montreal.
Fire was a serious concern as people tried to stay warm using everything from barbecues to candles in their homes.
In the home of Maleha Amrov in Ville-Lasalle, Quebec, a fire broke out, forcing her to flee. She was unable to find her baby Jenanne, but firefighter Ron Monahan ran into her home and found her. She was not breathing but Monahan gave her CPR and saved her life.
As news of the disaster reached the rest of Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan sent out generators to help provide power to communities.
In New Brunswick, volunteers chopped 600 cords of firewood, about 1.8 million pounds, and sent them to the worst-impacted area.
Students in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island sent batteries, while the City of Toronto sent five small planes loaded with blankets to the worst impacted areas of Quebec.
Ontario itself received 13,000 cots, 17,000 blankets, 1,500 power generators, 1,100 carbon monoxide detectors and 1,100 smoke detectors.
A crew from the North Carolina Power Company came up to Quebec and helped clear streets and restore power to people.
In places such as Montreal, restaurants hooked their kitchen up to generators to prepare hot meals for people who were left with no way to cook and were going hungry.
If a home on a street had power, it would become a beacon for others to come and get meals and stay warm together.
At the Montreal Convention Centre, 650 people slept on mats for days while waiting for the power to return.
The high-end Ritz-Carleton Hotel in Montreal slashed its rates by 50 per cent to give people rooms to stay in, while turning its salons into child-care centres.
At the Granby Zoo, an hour east of Montreal, generators were brought in to provide heat for the animals. Flamingoes were rounded up and put into the elephant enclosure as animals had to share accommodations for warmth. Many were shocked by the severity of the storm. Allan Macdonald, a resident of Montreal said,
“I thought as a Canadian, I had seen everything winter can throw at you. Nothing prepares you for this.”
Things were further complicated for Montrealers when the water filtration plants in the city went down, resulting in a need to boil water advisory.
People in rural areas tended to fare better than those in the cities.
Many were able to use their wood stoves to stay warm and had large stocks of food that they had harvested during the summer.
With snow melted over fires, they could even take baths.
Along with power poles and transmission lines, millions of trees were badly damaged by the ice.
In Mount Royal Park in Montreal, 140,000 trees were damaged and 5,000 were destroyed.
An estimated 7,000 square kilometres of forest about the size of Puerto Rico was lost in Ontario and Quebec due to ice damage. The loss of scenic trees in a park was unfortunate, but the loss of maple trees in rural areas was catastrophic for the maple syrup industry of Quebec.
Quebec is by far the largest maple syrup producer in the world, accounting for 72 per cent of the maple syrup harvested worldwide.
Millions of maple trees were heavily damaged, causing significant losses to the industry in Quebec.
And it took years for the industry to recover after it was all said and done.
I already mentioned farms as the storm impacted rural areas across the region, 300,000 animals died on dairy farms due to lack of food and heat as the temperature dipped.
Some farms had hundreds of cows, too many to milk by hand, and farmers were forced to cull some of their herds.
Without power, milk processing plants were forced to shut down. Over 10 million litres of milk had to be discarded, worth $5 million.
Steve Higham’s father-in-law was a dairy farmer near Maxville, Quebec who watched the power utility poles fall like dominoes along the rural road. It was a terrifying thing to see when there were hundreds of cows to look after.
The destruction was a massive hit to the Canadian economy.
Roughly 2.6 million people, 20 percent of the Canadian workforce, were unable to work, or impeded by the storm in some way.
Some people did make it to work though. One of my followers, who goes by Peace Oceans on X, formerly known as Twitter, had just arrived in Quebec as an immigrant. He found his car covered in ice and chopped it away. He then drove slowly to Laval and found there was nearly no one in the office. His manager was horrified he had driven in and immediately sent him home where he remained for three weeks.
Meanwhile the cleanup continued, sections of Old Montreal and Downtown Montreal had to be blocked off over concerns that falling ice from buildings could kill those walking below on the sidewalks.
After a week Montreal and most of Ontario were back to normal but that wasn’t the case in the Triangle of Darkness.
At a shelter in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, people were there for weeks waiting for the power to come back.
17 days into the crisis on Jan. 25, 200 people were battling the flu that had spread through the building.
On Jan. 28, nearly three weeks after the storm, 150,000 people were still without power.
Those who sheltered in their homes found ways to occupy the time.
Nine months after the storm, a mini-baby boom in the Triangle of Darkness occurred.
Lori Dawnolyn, who was pregnant during the ice storm, stated that one-quarter of her son’s classmates who were born in 1998 had birthdays in a three-week period from late September to mid-October.
Speaking of kids, students generally enjoyed themselves in the aftermath of the disaster.
School was out, sleepovers were plentiful and some even took to the streets to play hockey with skates on.
A month after the disaster hit, On Feb. 6, the last person without power finally had it restored, The province gave everyone who was without power $10 per day until the power was back on. For that person who waited an entire month, which amounted to only $300.
The storm caused $4 to $6 billion in damages and was the costliest disaster in Canadian history until the Fort McMurray Wildfires of May 2016.
Within Quebec, it was not a matter of just repairing the damage. Entire electric grids had to be completely rebuilt.
A total of 2,200 front line crews worked 12 to 16 hours a day and in two weeks were able to build a temporary high voltage transmission line. Some crews worked six weeks in a row with few, if any, days off.
400 kilometres of high voltage lines and 3,000 kilometres of transmission and distribution lines were rebuilt in Quebec.
In total, 1,500 towers and 17,000 poles were also replaced.
Hydro-Quebec completely reconfigured its transmission system to secure energy sources and create new line routes. Under the new system, if a substation is lost on a grid, distribution lines from another substation will supply power to customers.
In all, this cost the province $2 billion to upgrade its system.
Today, towers and poles are much stronger and Quebec power lines are built to handle 45 millimetres of ice weight, still below the worst the ice storm brought but an improvement, nonetheless.
That is the story of the Ice Storm of 1998 but it’s not the end of the stories you shared on social media.
Jeannette Arsenault was living in Prince Edward County Ontario, while her husband was stuck on a train near Ottawa. With her three-year-old, she saw the basement flood. Her neighbours worked for two hours in the freezing rain to save her furnace, while other neighbours brought hot tea, hot chocolate, lanterns, and blankets.
Catherine Hogan was in university when the storm hit. The City of Beaconsfield hired all the part-time students and opened a shelter at the local recreation centre. Catherine worked 80 hours, helping to keep the shelter open for 10 straight days.
Sean Eckford was working for the BBC World Service in Ottawa. His neighbourhood was not hit too badly, and power was back on quite quickly. His biggest memory from the entire storm was trying to explain to a radio audience in Britian just what exactly freezing rain was.
It’s been over 25 years since this storm rocked Canada and brought so many to their knees… but having heard from you, and your stories, the one thing I’m most proud of is how quickly we came together to help each other out.
Proving that even in the darkness, there’s always a bit of light.
Information from Canadian Encyclopedia, Macleans, Veterans Affairs, CBC, Wikipedia, Hydro Quebec, Ottawa Citizen
