Brockville Museum #TBT: Ice Storms in Brockville

Brockville – This morning’s ice might have a few people reminiscing about some past ice storms, even if, by comparison, today’s ice is just a mild inconvenience (all indications are that it should melt away pretty quickly). But that crinkling sound, ice build-up on everything, and the sight of broken branches can definitely conjure up some memories for those who experienced the 1998 Ice Storm.

While many have referred to the 1998 Ice Storm as the “Storm of the Century” (over 5 million people lost power as a result of nearly 100mm of ice build-up, and in Brockville, the power was out for 3 days – and almost two weeks in the surrounding rural areas), it was not the only significant Ice Storm to ravage Brockville and the surrounding area in the 1900s. At least two earlier storms, one in 1913 and one in 1942, also knocked out power and impacted daily life.

When the 1913 ice storm hit Brockville, many had had electricity in their homes for about two decades and some even had telephone service. However, just as it did in 1998, the 1913 storm caused the lines to break causing a blackout: “From Bennett Street to the Eastern Hospital not a single telephone, telegraph or light pole is intact” noted the newspaper.

Another notable ice storm hit on December 30th, 1942, in the midst of the Second World War. The Recorder & Times headline on January 2, 1943, read “Much Discomfort through Storm, as Brockville and District “Blitzed” by Devastating Fall of Glare Ice”.