In some places, two hours southwest of Ottawa, the ruins and fallen trees of the right storm are still exactly where the storm left them more than two weeks ago.
Dozens of trailers remain crushed under massive trees, vehicles are crushed and trapped in the woods, and some people still do not have access to energy.
“I feel like we really had the weight of the storm here,” said Lisa Martin, co-owner of Brown’s Park, a trailer campground in Cloyne, Ont.
He said a section of the park had been destroyed and 21 trailers would probably have to be replaced, adding that part of the park would never be the same.
“People are used to camping there in this beautiful old pine forest. And now it’s just going to be … barren.”
Martin said the experience so far with insurance and its contractors has been positive. She attributes the delay in cleaning up to the “extreme devastation of this storm.”
An arborist is expected on Monday to begin mass clearing.
“It simply came to our notice then [that] no one was injured. ”
A Brown’s Park building in Cloyne, Ontario, had its roof destroyed by a fallen tree during the May 21 windstorm. Park co-owner Lisa Martin estimates that 21 trailers in the park cannot be recovered. (Kim Brown)
Still no electricity in Frontenac Nord
“Two weeks later, we still have a lot of people without electricity,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins. He said some people will not have access to the network until the end of June, while others will have to wait until August.
“[The storm] I just pulled out a bunch of hydraulic poles and other lines with it. It was like a domino effect … 70 sticks were broken, “he recalls.
According to Hydro One, some customers in the Tweed area, Ontario it will be “without light for several more weeks due to the extraordinary level of damage.” Its estimated restoration time is June 30th.
The mayor of North Frontenac says about 70 hydraulic poles were knocked down by the May 21 windstorm. (Submitted by Ron Higgins)
Higgins said the process to replace the damaged hydraulic poles will take some time.
“Some of the poles have to be reached by helicopter due to the distance of some of the areas,” he added.
Meanwhile, it focuses on cleaning up the municipality.
“We have a lot of trees that are still hanging from other trees or the canopies are broken and ready to fall. So we have a lot of dangerous trees on our roads that we still have to clean up.”
“This is a tourist city and we have no tourists”
Bon Echo Provincial Park will remain closed at least until June 12 after it “received significant damage throughout the park.”
Bon Echo is closed due to storm damage until further notice.
– @ BonEchoPP
The closure is affecting small businesses in the area that serve park visitors, said Stephanie Regent, who owns Finnegan’s general store in Cloyne. He said the storm had pushed the city “back several weeks”.
“This is a tourist city and we don’t have tourists,” he told CBC. “Our summers keep us alive in the winter.
“Anyone who owns a small business in this city has pushed it back. And the really important part of that is that all of these businesses are family owned, family run and independent businesses.”
Stephanie Regent says Cloyne, Ontario, and her people have come together to support each other after the storm. (Submitted by Stephanie Regent)
There has been good pleasure, said Regent: never before has the city and its people been so supportive of each other.
“We’ve probably spent more time chatting with people in the store over the last two weeks than we normally would at this time, because I would normally be too busy for that,” he said proudly.
“We have had a lot of appreciation from the community and from those who have been helping us for the last two weeks.”