Ice Storm '98

As an independent journalist, Bob MacKenzie writes articles for a number of print and internet publications. The local and national scope of his monthly articles for the Kingston Business Journal make them of interest to readers not just in Kingston but across North America. These articles are reprinted here for your information. All material included in these pages is copyright © Bob MacKenzie and Kingston Business Journal, 1998. No reproduction for any reason is allowed without prior permission in writing from the author.

The article below was published in the April 1, 1998 edition of Kingston Business Journal.

Update:

Almost three months ago, Kingston and the surrounding area, along with most of eastern Ontario and parts of Quebec and New York State, was devastated by a violent ice storm, the worst natural disaster to hit this part of North America in this century.

Since January, work has been underway to repair the damage wreaked by the storm and to help those most affected to recover their losses of property and livelihood. Toward this end, first the Kingston Area Disaster Relief Committee and then the Eastern Ontario Disaster Relief Committee were formed. Kingstonian Jim Bennett is Chairman of both committees.

According to Bennett, "There's a lot going on and there's been a lot of evolution in the program." He says that it has taken time to organize the relief programs simply because of the scope of the disaster.

"One thing different was that [the damage] was so widespread," says Bennett. "It was not localized and was diverse in terms of the types of loss experienced. It was clear from the beginning that government would have to move on two fronts: first the emergency and then the long term to affect recovery. The programs would have to be humanistic and practical so as to get people back to being viable economic units again."

There are two levels of relief available according to Bennett, administered locally and by the province. "Our program is focussed only at individuals in their residences, in their farming businesses, and in their small businesses. The Province has a broader set of criteria. Part of the losses will be met by matched dollars (dollars raised locally matched by provincial dollars); part of the losses will be met by the provinces and the feds with no need to match at all."

To provide the most effective relief for the extensive damage which had been done to the Kingston area, finding sufficient funding has been a large part of the relief committee's task.

According to Bennett, the challenge was to "try and persuade government to make matching factors as large as possible." In this, they have been admirably successful. For the first time in history, the province will match local relief dollars raised by a factor of four to one. That is, for every dollar that is raised locally, the committee will have five dollars available to redistribute into the community.

In addition to funds raised directly by the committee, the matching formula also applies to amounts raised by third parties such as the Red Cross, private donations, and so on.

To establish criteria for claims, the committee did some research. Preliminary damage forms were distributed throughout the area. These forms allowed victims to tell the committee what were their losses not covered by insurance. From the returned forms the committee developed an approved revised set of claim criteria which was sent to the provincial minister responsible. They are now waiting for the province to endorse these criteria. Bennett points out that this is a key document because "people need to know what it is they are able to claim."

The preliminary damage forms are not claim forms, Bennett emphasizes. Whether or not people had submitted these earlier forms, they are still eligible to submit a claim form for relief.

"Losses at the personal level are a little more than 50 million dollars not covered by insurance, etcetera," says Bennett. "That's a reasonable ballpark. It's lower than we had expected."

Bennett says there are a number of factors which have lowered the over all damage estimates. More than ten million dollars has been transferred to the municipalities. There is a similar emergency program for farms and another for small business (within certain conditions). If businesses are not eligible under this program, they are still eligible to apply to the local relief committee. There is support to small and medium business and to part-time and full-time farmers as well as to tourist operators. Over all, according to Bennett, there is available about 50 million dollars for businesses and another 20 million for farms. These programs have helped to reduce the amount of dollars needed to be raised locally.

"We have to raise locally in the neighbourhood of ten to twelve million dollars," says Bennett. "To date, we have raised about five million, so we still have to raise five to ten million more."

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Last Updated March 30, 1998 by Bob MacKenzie