The Strongest Storms Reveal the Strongest of Trees

The Strongest Storms Reveal the Strongest of Trees

By: Evelyn Currie

It was a cold, early spring day when the storm began. The wind came first and went up to speeds of 100 km per hour, which caused a flicker throughout the town; if you looked close enough, you could see a bolt of lightning strike in the sky. They say it all started slowly, and that would be correct. Around half an hour later, the drops of freezing rain came slowly, and as time passed, those drops grew and grew. Hours passed, and the rain kept on. After about 4 hours, the darkness set in, and at last light, you could see a haze of fear and worry among the townspeople. This storm was said to be the storm of the year- ice, hail, rain, wind, lightning, the whole thing. But some people didn't trust it. Others felt it would never happen- this was until the 5th hour of the storm, then they believed it. The electricity faded as the storm continued, and the stores filled with worried townspeople. It was chaos. The stores were emptied, the employees were all tired from their long days, and the power was long gone. The town felt peaceful without lights, quiet, almost. The kind of darkness made you question what time it was.

After the first day of the storm, people went home from their jobs on the cold, rainy night to their cold, powerless homes in modern suburban neighbourhoods. From there, their nights got worse; not only did they not have power or wifi, but they also didn't have hot water or food that didn't need cooking. It is safe to say that many people were unprepared. Throughout the night, doors swung open, cars went off, and dogs barked at the sound of lightning. Everyone was already scared, but this was making it all way worse. The morning after, everyone was awoken by a beautiful sight. Trees, grass and anything outdoors across central Ontario were covered in a thin layer of solid ice. For a minute, it was gorgeous, like a winter wonderland. But it was only a bit of beauty until the darkness returned. Or should I say light? A few hours passed, and a whiteout of snow began. It was so bad that you couldn't see your neighbours across the street. To make matters worse, you couldn't see cars either, which made it difficult to stop at a powerless traffic light and perform the four-way stop method.

Throughout the day, the cold continued, and people across the land were stuck in their powerless homes. It was calm during this. The families held tight and attempted to stay warm using generators or heavy blankets, but even the strongest machines couldn't protect us from nature's attack. The heavy winds and ice caused many generators to fail, even ones that were said to withstand hurricanes. Nevertheless, people made it through and remained calm during such a horrible time. During this time, all you could see were people playing board games, building puzzles, drawing, shovelling snow and helping their fellow community members. Sadly, this didn't last long.

The late night came; trees and branches were flying, houses were shaking, and buildings were awfully damaged. With the lights out, people argued and fought, and a war began across the small town. Everyone wanted warmth and light, but nobody had it. So, most took it out on each other through road rage, theft, or ignorance. Everyone hated each other, which destroyed the community, not the building damage, storm, chaos, and loss of trees.

If you were to enter a grocery store during the storm, you could see a grown pair of men arguing in aisle 9 for the last package of toilet paper, a store employee being called an "Idiot" because she couldn't find any more baby food for a mother in aisle 5, a line of stressed families waiting to get food only to have people skip ahead of them, someone ignoring a stop sign and almost hitting a child trying to cross the street to the store. The storm caused all this pent-up anger in people across the area, not just because they were scared but also because they were tired, cold and hungry. After the storm faded away, the darkness stayed. People could finally leave their homes to discover the devastation of the storm, and there was much of it.

Trees of all sizes had fallen to the ground and spread across the streets, buildings, and homes, sustaining massive damage. There was no power anywhere due to the hydro lines that had fallen all across the streets. It was also discovered that many people had been robbed and had items stolen from them, including family heirlooms, expensive electronics and even cars. But, through all the darkness the storm caused us all, a light shone through the community. If you were to drive by these devastated homes, you could see neighbours, children, families and friends helping one another. Some people would stay inside to stay warm, but others stood out in the cold for hours to help a fellow human being.

As soon as the storm passed, people realized it was more than just their family on this planet; others also suffered from it, so they helped each other. Whether moving a tree blocking a neighbour's driveway or helping someone find their lost cat, it all helped. What made this storm worth remembering was that after it was over, the community came together in harmony and is still working to restore everything to how it was. Sure, there are a couple of missing trees in the neighbourhood and lots of lasting damage to the property that could cost them, but nobody cares about that right now. All they care about is that everyone is safe because when all this is said and done, we know that the strongest storms truly reveal the strongest trees.

Written about the ice storm in Kawartha Lakes on March 30th, 2025.