BARRIE - Getting to the home of Rob and Ingrid Barron in the northern part of Oro-Medonte Township is a bit of a challenge right now.
The couple, along with Ingrid’s 95-year-old mother, live on a 100-acre property on Line 12 South, near Lakeshore Road East, a place that was hit especially hard by this past weekend’s ice storm.
Like everyone else in their neighbourhood, the Barrons lost power early Saturday morning and they’re not expecting it back anytime soon.
“We’ve been without power now for more than 80 hours and I’m pretty sure we won’t get it back for at least another 10 days,” Rob said Tuesday morning, as he took a few minutes out from dealing with the damage to his property to speak with a BarrieToday reporter. “Every hydro pole north of the rail trail is out.
“I don’t see how they can possibly get it back on before that,” he added.
It’s hard to doubt Barron’s timeline, especially with a weather forecast that is calling for more freezing rain, starting Wednesday morning and lasting until the early hours of Thursday.
Turning onto Line 12 South from Ridge Road, a visitor has to maneuvre around a massive tree that has fallen across the road, blocking both lanes — a kind soul has clipped enough of the tree to allow a single vehicle to weave out to the shoulder to get around.
Ten metres beyond the downed tree, a snapped-off hydro pole lays across a homeowner’s driveway, the power lines running across the road and into the ditch on the other side.
Turning the corner, the power-line poles from Ridge Road south to the Lake Country Oro-Medonte Rail Trail are down, snapped off like twigs, some hanging precariously from still-attached hydro lines.
Farther down Line 12 South, at the Barron household, the effects of the ice storm are everywhere: a large birch tree has come down on one of their trailers; a grouping of cedars and the couple’s hydro line lays across two older cars at the end of the driveway; and a large stand of mature cedars lays in tatters right next to the house, which, amazingly, survived the storm unscathed.
“Friday night, the trees started snapping off,” Rob said. “It sounded like gunshots going off for almost two days.”
When the worst of the storm was over, Rob went out to assess the damage.
“We lost hundreds of trees all over the property and about 30 of them right beside the house,” he said. “But really, it’s just a bit of property damage. Nothing of any real value was lost.”
Considering the circumstances and what could have been, the Barrons are in pretty good spirits.
“We’re very fortunate,” Ingrid said. “I mean, it tests your abilities, you know, but it makes us appreciate what we have.
“When you think about what’s going on in places like the Ukraine or Gaza, a little power outage isn’t that big a deal,” she added.
Having lived in “the sticks” for the past six years, the Barrons were well prepared for the storm. They have a generator that keeps their appliances going, a gas fireplace keeps the house toasty inside and they have a supply of potable water.
They also have neighbours who have been checking in with them to ensure they’re OK.
“A lot of us have been going house-to-house to make sure everybody’s OK and they have what they need,” Ingrid said. “We’ll check on them and then they’ll check on us later on.”
Neighbour caring for neighbour seems to be a way of life in this part of the township.
Lynda Chan, a photographer who lives up the street from the Barrons, said she’s never seen an outpouring of neighbourly support like the one she’s seen over the past couple of days.
“There’s a lot of mental stress for a lot of people in this situation,” Chan said Tuesday morning. “I think it’s a big challenge, but we’ve seen a lot of people checking on other folks and offering them help.
"There was a fella the other morning who was driving around with a generator in his pick up offering it to anybody who needed it. It really is amazing."
A native of New Brunswick, Chan said she’s seen her fair share of storms, but she’s never experienced a storm like the one this past weekend.
“I’ve lived through some stuff, but nothing like this,” she said. “My front yard is trashed.”
While heartbroken at the loss, she’s found the silver lining.
“A consequence of this is that you’re really noticing the resiliency and the caring of the people in the neighbourhood,” she said. “The community is really pulling together.”
Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw isn’t surprised to see the township’s residents come together.
“Oro-Medonte is a strong and supportive community — in times like these we all come together,” he said in a statement released Monday night. “The township is understanding of challenges our residents face with the amount of damage that has been sustained and the volume of clean-up that lies ahead.
“We empathize with our residents and local businesses, and understand coping with prolonged power outages is very difficult,” he added.
In the statement, Greenlaw said the township expects the cleanup to take the better part of a week.
“Timelines associated with cleanup in its entirety are unknown at this time,” he said. “We anticipate it will take the majority of this week before all roads will be opened up.”
He added the cleanup is “dynamic,” based on changing conditions, and the township will be providing updates on its website (oro-medonte.ca) and the township’s social channels — Facebook, X and Instagram.
