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Superstorm Sandy's Effect on Toronto

ChesterCopperpot said:
I was woken this morning at 2:45am with a huge crash outside my bedroom window.

I live on the 5th floor of the Luna Vista building in Cityplace - there was shattered glass all over my terrace - and the roof of the podium between my building and Luna - I assumes it's someone's balcony glass from up above.

I went out this morning and looked up but couldn't see anything from my building.

Started to walk to work and noticed that a piece of the spandrel was missing from Montage - and the glass that was shattered on my balcony was this grey colour.

View attachment 9604
Click to expand...

That piece of spandrel had been missing before the storm, so it was likely something else. Could've been someones patio table. I noticed cushions from someones set on the ground this morning when I left.
 
urbandreamer said:
Suspicious no? Use the cover of a distracting storm to torch a property sitting on prime land.
Click to expand...

that was just on the news ... the fire is being considered suspicious.

when you say torching a property, are you saying the intention was to destroy the Silver Snail building or this one?
ROOTS was leasing this premise, so it's not like a neglected heritage building waiting to crumble by a greedy owner to take advantage of development. these properties on Queen fetch $5+ million
 
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maybe Roots really wanted an end to their lease

image.png
 
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When stuff gets reported but the owner ignores it, that's a liability lawsuit waiting to happen. There are some trees on my grandma's street that are leaning all to one side and always look like they'll take down the power lines and/or the neighbours cars by strong winds and wet ground, but the city sent their crew and wrote back saying they don't think its worth their time to cut down (yes we kept those letters if finally falls one day).

If that Staples sign was loose for awhile and the owner allegedly ignored it.. tragic loss, but the family may have grounds to sue.
 
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Tuscani01 said:
That piece of spandrel had been missing before the storm, so it was likely something else. Could've been someones patio table. I noticed cushions from someones set on the ground this morning when I left.
Click to expand...

I got an explanation from the Building manager this morning - apparently there was broken panes of glass on the 3rd floor terrace
 
Sandy's effects on Southern Ontario...and Long Island...

Everyone: I have not looked at UT for a while and after a news report that someone was killed in Downtown
Toronto by flying debris stirred up by Sandy I knew to look here at UT and discovering that it was actually a
freak accident caused by a sign falling off a billboard I want to ask about how Sandy affected Toronto and
Southern Ontario...hopefully it was better then how Long Island and the NYC area and New Jersey which was
hard hit...

At this point I have no power and have had power restored on the evening of Tuesday 10/30 and subsequently
losing it again on 11/4 Sunday about 9:30pm...I traveled to my local Apple Store to make this post...I want to
also mention how hard some shore-line communities were hit-such as Long Beach,LI and towns on the NJ Shore
from Long Beach Island on N to Sandy Hook...I live inland so the damage (other then the power loss) was not
too bad...

There were warnings about a disruption in the gasoline supply and it has become a big problem with gas lines
the likes not seen since the 1970s era Arab oil embargo against the US...Mass Transit all thru the region has been
hit hard also and some lines on the LIRR and NJ Transit Rail are shut down indefinitely...

I stood on line waiting to get gasoline with a 5 US Gallon can last night and this fun song came to mind:
www.youtube.com/watch/?v=Mb4ZWccudEM NRBQ's "Get That Gasoline" from the 70s...
It actually was better to fill the can instead of waisting gas in long lines-which were anywhere that you
could find gas...another problem is that with power out gas can not be pumped even though some
gas stations have supply...

The US Presidential election tomorrow looks to be quite interesting...Obama has the inside track to victory
but with the election so close anything can happen...I support Barack Obama's re-election noting the tough
problems that he inherited...

I have to return home to a dark and quiet and chilly night ahead...Many thousands of utility customers in
the NY/NJ/CT region are still powerless...Let's see what tomorrow brings...

Thoughts from Long Island Mike
 
The storm damage to NY, NJ & areas have been all the news on US and Canadian news channels since the night it hit and for several days afterward. One interesting note was that Queen's, NJ, lower Manhattan & Long Island got most of the attention then three days later they discover that Staten Island got slammed real hard too and there were no rescue efforts happening and no FEMA/Red Cross etc. to help the folks there. That was solved within a day once it hit CNN.
A Nor'easter is on the way up the coast and could possibly hit you folks, but they are pretty unpredictable so hopefully it'll bypass you all completely but keep an eye on the media (radio or whatever means you may have with no power) and prepare in case it comes your way.
Our thoughts are with you all LI Mike. Stay safe, stay warm and all the best on recovery efforts over there. The damage inflicted by Sandy to your region is truly historic and completely mind boggling as we watch the coverage of it on TV.
 
Long Island Mike said:
... I knew to look here at UT and discovering that it was actually a
freak accident caused by a sign falling off a billboard I want to ask about how Sandy affected Toronto and
Southern Ontario...hopefully it was better then how Long Island and the NYC area and New Jersey which was
hard hit...
Click to expand...

It was a freak accident caused by the high winds.

Winds were very high for about 12 hours from 7 pm to 7 am, at about the same time the hurricane made landfall. Which is pretty incredible when you think about it. It seemed to peak about 1-2 am ... at about 1 am I was in bed, and I felt my entire house move ... the kind of movement you get when an airplane drops a bit during flight because of turbulence. I then spent about quarter-of-an-hour watching the very large 100-year old Oak tree that extends from one neighbours property over my house (and bedroom), to the next neighbour, pondering how solid it was. It looked pretty good, but at the same time my neighbour was watching my fence get blown over ... shearing two posts. There were numerous fallen branches, which created localized power outages and even damaged homes. Though by far the worst was the fire at Queen near Soho, which closed Queen Street for almost a week ... however media have suggested it was an opportunistic arsonist.

So a bad wind storm, no unusual amounts of rains (though it rained lightly and drizzled for about a week), but nothing like what hit New York.
 
nfitz said:
It was a freak accident caused by the high winds.

Winds were very high for about 12 hours from 7 pm to 7 am, at about the same time the hurricane made landfall. Which is pretty incredible when you think about it. It seemed to peak about 1-2 am ... at about 1 am I was in bed, and I felt my entire house move ... the kind of movement you get when an airplane drops a bit during flight because of turbulence. I then spent about quarter-of-an-hour watching the very large 100-year old Oak tree that extends from one neighbours property over my house (and bedroom), to the next neighbour, pondering how solid it was. It looked pretty good, but at the same time my neighbour was watching my fence get blown over ... shearing two posts. There were numerous fallen branches, which created localized power outages and even damaged homes. Though by far the worst was the fire at Queen near Soho, which closed Queen Street for almost a week ... however media have suggested it was an opportunistic arsonist.

So a bad wind storm, no unusual amounts of rains (though it rained lightly and drizzled for about a week), but nothing like what hit New York.
Click to expand...

That storm's wind and damage is why I decided to call a tree pruning company to come over and schedule a time later this month to trim our large tree here and there, and check on the health of all our trees.
 
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CC and Everyone: Thanks for the good word...Today looked to be the significant weather break
that the entire NY/NJ region needed...As an example I got my power restored this afternoon
11/9 at exactly 4:30pm after almost 5 days...

That picture shows a good example of trees being damaged...I have some large trees
on my property myself and only some branches were damaged on them...I do feel
somewhat lucky there...

The gasoline shortage seems to be easing and the upcoming stretch of good weather
will help many recover from the two-storm blow that we received...

With the Holidays approaching (Thanksgiving is just 13 days away!) we can all look
forward to better days ahead...I hope to visit UT some more soon to see some of
what I am missing concerning Toronto and Southern Ontario...

I will also add this link so those interested can look at LI's power situation:
www.lipower.org

I also now know that Toronto Hydro is contributing to the LI power restoration...
I noticed an article in today's LI Newsday mentioning TH and I also saw a TH
pickup truck today in my travels...Another link: www.newsday.com

LI has power crews from all over the US, Ontario (TH as an example) and Quebec at this point...

LI MIKE
 
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The Superstorm Sandy recovery effort...and planning for the next Super Storm...

Everyone: As many know the New York City area and the entire region is steadily recovering from the wrath
of Superstorm Sandy and the following week's Nor'Easter which the Weather Channel named Winter Storm Athena...

The exception is the hard-hit coastline areas in which recovery efforts will be measured in months and even years
instead of just the past three to four weeks which most folks needed to recover from storm problems...

Another development is what will happen to the Long Island Power Authority which was very hard-hit by both storms...
One of LIPA's top officials has already resigned over the major problems of power restoration and there is sure to be
other changes coming...

I also noted that there was other Ontario electic utilities that assisted in the power restoration effort in the NY/NJ/CT region...
I remember seeing crews from Hydro One here on LI - link: www.hydroone.com and in their news section they mention crews
that traveled south to assist Con Edison and LIPA restore power after those storms...

In closing this was not the first big storm to affect our regions and definitely won't be the last...As the climate changes somewhat
and storms become more numerous and powerful it pays to be ready to take action and learn from our earlier mistakes so things
may need not probably be so bad after Nature's next large storm...

LI MIKE
 
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