Nova Scotians Respond to Ice Storm Victims

Feature Story

By Gordon MacDonald Communications Nova Scotia

COMMUNICATIONS N.S.--Nova Scotians Respond to Ice-Storm Victims

Nova Scotians opened their hearts and wallets recently to help fellow Canadians in Quebec and eastern Ontario ravaged by the ice storms --one of Canada's worst natural disasters.

It's impossible to name all the individuals, organizations, businesses, corporations and government agencies that pitched in, but their tremendous effort should be acknowledged.

Members of the Nova Scotia Milk Producers Association rushed generators to fellow dairy farmers in the stricken areas, so they could keep milking their cows. The association scoured the province and found 50 farm generators, loaded them onto three flatbed trucks in Truro and sent them to Quebec along with a load of kerosene, lamp wicks, battery packs and candles.

The Emergency Measures Organization (EMO), the Department of Transportation and Public Works and the Department of Natural Resources lent four industrial generators to the cause, and Transportation and Public Works supplied the trucks and drivers for the convoy as well as mechanics to service the generators.

"I can't describe how happy those farmers were when brought that first load of generators," said Gerald Knol, one of the drivers. "It's a really nice feeling to know you can have that kind of effect on people."

"I can't say enough about Nova Scotians' efforts and the response from employees of the Department of Transportation and Public Works," said Transportation and Public Works Minister Don Downe, whose department headed up the government's relief effort. "I'm happy we could make such a difference."

Recognition is also in order for the 12 students from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Bible Hill who went to Quebec to pitch in with farm chores. Farmers in the Chateauguay Valley were exhausted after power outages forced them to hand-milk their cows. Many were losing their animals to infection because they couldn't milk them fast enough, and to starvation because their feed silos couldn't operate without electricity.

Then there was the Nova Scotia fish farmer who hauled an industrial generator to one of his biggest customers in Quebec. Scott MacEachern, owner of ScotiaAqua of Larrys River, Guysborough County, sells a lot of his farmed trout to Viamer, a big fish broker in St-Hyacinthe, near Montreal. Without power, fish in their freezers would soon spoil. So Mr. MacEachern found a 75-kilowatt generator and took it to Quebec.

The response from the Red Cross deserves note as well. More than 100 volunteers at the society's Halifax office put together 5,000 comfort kits for storm victims. The kits, which Air Nova flew to Montreal, were made up of personal toiletry items supplied by individuals, hotels, supermarkets, department stores and students from across the province.

The Red Cross has also been accepting financial donations for storm victims. John Byrne, regional director for Nova Scotia, said as of late last week, Nova Scotians had donated $20,000 and money was still pouring in.

Mr. Byrne said his volunteers "were amazing. As people dropped off supplies, they took off their coats and said, What else can we do?' In true Nova Scotian style, everybody just chipped in."

Then there was the Salvation Army's effort. Community relations co-ordinator Donna King said "an absolutely marvellous volunteer, Reg Hitchcock of Lower Sackville," drove two truckloads of non-perishable food to Montreal. Individuals, churches and businesses donated the food, and corporate sponsors provided the trucks, gasoline, cell phones and driver's hotel accommodation.

"I worked 57 hours on the truck. I was cold, hungry and tired -- but I was never happier, because meeting those people and seeing their concern for others was just marvellous," said Ms. King, who thanked people across the province for their generosity.

Dianne Swinemar, executive director of the Metro Food Bank Society, said its response to the crisis was fairly easy to co-ordinate. "There was food at the Daily Bread Food Bank warehouse in Toronto that the Canadian Association of Food Banks, our national organization, had designated for us here. As soon as we heard of the ice storm emergency, we authorized our food supplies to be sent to Quebec instead."

The firewood effort was a good example of private-public

co-operation and just plain generosity.

EMO officials in Nova Scotia were told by their counterparts in Quebec that in addition to generators, the other most-pressing need was for dried, seasoned hardwood.

CN Rail lent railcars to transport wood to a distribution centre in Quebec. The Windsor and Hantsport Railway lent their track and the engines to pull two railcars from the CN track at Windsor Junction to Windsor and back. The Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway did the same for a car from CN's track in Truro to Sydney and back.

In Windsor, volunteers from West Hants Ground Search and Rescue loaded two railcars with firewood, and the Cape Breton Search and Rescue team filled a car in Sydney. In the provincial capital, volunteers with Halifax Regional Search and Rescue filled three more railcars with hardwood.

The public enquiries office of the Department of Business and Consumer Services deserves credit for staffing an after-hours toll-free phone line for information on where people should take their firewood.

EMO also wants to acknowledge the many truckloads of firewood

• including tractor-trailer loads -- that individuals and groups such as forest co-ops sent off to the affected areas.

"The generosity of Nova Scotians to those in need has always been second to none," said Wayne Adams, Minister responsible for the Emergency Measures Organization.

The list goes on.

Fire departments across the province donated items such as portable generators, flashlights and batteries, and sent a tractor-trailer load from Halifax to Quebec.

Students raised funds for the relief effort; some drew greeting cards to help cheer up storm victims.

There were the 126 Cape Breton reservists who volunteered to take tents, generators, water purifiers and other supplies to those hit hardest, joining the largest deployment of troops to respond to a natural disaster in Canada.

Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing linemen at Nova Scotia Power and independent power utility contractors, sent crews to help exhausted colleagues in Quebec. The 20 linemen and operators helped repair huge steel transmission towers and reconnect downed poles.

"All that Nova Scotians ever need is a call for help, and they respond with tireless and unselfish efforts," said Mr. Adams.

Added Mr. Downe: "This kind of generosity makes a person proud to be Nova Scotian."

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photo and cutline to follow by mail of volunteers in Truro loading generators on a flatbed truck -- part of a convoy bound for ice-storm victims in Quebec.