Ice Storm calamity fuelled community spirit in Westmount

The storm, which dumped freezing rain for days on a large swath of the northeastern North American seaboard, and caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure, resulted in long term power outages throughout the area.

Peter Trent, who was mayor of Westmount at the time, got an unusual gift on Jan. 5, his birthday, as he was flying back to Montreal from a Christmas trip in England. "My birthday present was the Ice Storm," he told the Examiner.

As the conditions resulting from the storm worsened, shelters for those displaced from their homes were opened at the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue on Kensington Avenue and at Victoria Hall.

Since Westmount was connected to its own independent electricity grid, power in the city remained on much longer than in most other parts of Montreal. It is believed that a contributing factor in this was the fact Westmount Hydro workers had pruned trees around power lines not long before the storm.

Although he spent most of his time during the emergency at Westmount city hall, Trent remembers an anxious personal moment when he realized his house was endangered. The temperature was plummeting and there was no power. "When I went back to my house and saw it was three degrees inside, had it gone any lower I would have had to drain my water system," he said.

On a wider scale, he was also worried upon learning that the City of Montreal had nearly reached the point of being unable to produce water because there was no power for treatment facilities. "If there were a major fire, what the hell were we going to do?" said Trent.

Bruce St. Louis, Westmount's director-general then as now, spent 10 continuous days at city hall, returning only to his West Island home on a few occasions to see that his family was safe.

His most vivid memory was of the breathtaking view to be had late one night at the height of the crisis from Westmount's summit lookout. "I went up to Summit Circle and went to the lookout and it was total darkness," he said.

Although the ice-coated trees were spectacular, he was more impressed by the absolute stillness and silence. "When you walk around at night there's the hum of the street lights, you hear traffic in the background, but here it was totally, completely silent. It was the most peaceful, serene thing I've ever seen in my life."

Despite the mounting tension, Councillor Tom Thompson recalls how cooperative everyone was in Westmount. "We had maybe one incident, and I can't remember what it was, that required intervention by a PSO," he said.

Nancy Nelson of Abbott Avenue recalled how the Ice Storm brought all the neighbours on the street together.

"There were a lot of people eating here and showering," she said. "There were a couple of teenagers and I said to them, 'don't you have power?' And they said, 'yeah, but everybody's here. This is the most fun place to be.' … It was a very-community-minded time."