Toronto Icestorm of 2013

[Fresco]

Did anyone else have problems with their car's windshield wiper fluid today because of the cold??

My liquid just simply wouldnt come out. I had to stop every few miles and throw some water on the windshield

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

From a news release today. I'm not sure how they are ensuring that only those with the greatest need get these cards -- is there an income requirement? do they do an assessment?

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

A lot of tenants don't take out tenant insurance for their contents. This is one reason for it. Can landlords make taking tenant insurance a prerequisite for a tenancy agreement?

Last two places I rented required proof of renters insurance

 

[PinkLucy]

The Minister was on CBC this morning. She confirmed that there is no proof of need required. They are simply counting on people's honesty. Also, there is no way to cross check addresses, so really anyone who is willing to line up could go get themselves a card.

 

[gabe]

This one was super loud!! I nearly had a heart attack!

'Ice quakes' wake Toronto residents on cold night


As overnight temperatures in Toronto dipped to –20 C, many people again reported hearing loud booms, which CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland says was likely the result of a "frost quake."

Many on Twitter reported hearing a loud boom overnight.

"Awaken by a loud boom — thought a family member was in trouble," said a tweet by @JanineBaijnath.

Scotland said what they likely heard was the result of a weather phenomenon known as an "ice quake" or "ice boom."

The boom is caused when water in the ground expands in extreme cold

"All of a sudden that ice starts to expand — it's like having a lid on top of a bottle, that pressure builds and builds until finally something gives, the ice expands, the pressure is released, the ground cracks and we hear what sounds or even feels like a very localized earthquake," said Scotland.

"This is not an earthquake. It's ice expanding under the ground, and it leads to a loud boom and gets folks pretty scared when it happens in the middle of the night. Very rare, very cool but very scary."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ice-quakes-wake-toronto-residents-on-cold-night-1.2482615

 

[BurlOak]

http://www.newstalk1010.com/news/20...lling-in-army-for-ice-storm-clean-up#comments

Now that the emergency is over, Kelly want to react in an emergency manner.

 

[TheKingEast]

Is this only for welfare recipients? So people who are middle class living paycheck to paycheck who lost a week's worth of food shouldn't be allowed a gift card? I know several people who lined up and see nothing wrong with it as long as they're allowed to do it.

I'd say it's the government was silly to think people wouldn't take advantage of this.

 

[PinkLucy]

They say it's based on need, but there's no definition as to what constitutes need. And I'm sorry, but if you're driving a BMW, do you really need to stand in line for a maximum of $100 while someone living on a welfare cheque doesn't get a gift card? $100 for the welfare recipient and $100 for the BMW driver are two very different things.

And of course people are going to take advantage; it's human nature.

 

[TheKingEast]

They say it's based on need, but there's no definition as to what constitutes need. And I'm sorry, but if you're driving a BMW, do you really need to stand in line for a maximum of $100 while someone living on a welfare cheque doesn't get a gift card? $100 for the welfare recipient and $100 for the BMW driver are two very different things.

And of course people are going to take advantage; it's human nature.

Need is subjective. I blame the government on this one. If this is how they handle welfare then no wonder some people work the system.

You can't judge a person's financial situation by the car they drive IMO.

Also, are welfare recipients getting turned back? If so, who is at fault for that? The government who didn't think this thing through or people who are following the rules?

Expecting people to do the right thing is downright stupid. It's our money so they don't care.

 

[Jonny5]

This one was super loud!! I nearly had a heart attack!

I heard loud bangs on Christmas Eve and then read the story on frost quakes the following day, but I didn't put the two together. It sounded very much like the bang was coming from in my condo building, not from outside. I thought someone was banging on the walls, or maybe Santa was on the roof. Then the same thing happened last night, and this morning I see the frost quake story again, so I have to assume that's what it was.

It puzzles me how I don't recall ever hearing this phenomenon before or anything about it, nor anyone else I know. It must require some very precise conditions to develop otherwise I would expect it to be widely known in local folk lore. I also really don't grasp the mechanics of how it can be so loud. I understand that ice is expanding, pressure builds, and the bang is the ground shifting to release the pressure; but how much is required to have so many people here it? Or is it a rather localised sound but happening all over the place at once?

EDIT: The ventilation systems in my building can make it a bit tricky to pin down the source of a sound, however, reading comments on the news sites, I see many other people expressing the same disbelief that the sound is coming from the outside. It's a very distinct noise I can only compare to someone banging on a wall or door.

 

[PinkLucy]

Need is subjective. I blame the government on this one. If this is how they handle welfare then no wonder some people work the system.

You can't judge a person's financial situation by the car they drive IMO.

Also, are welfare recipients getting turned back? If so, who is at fault for that? The government who didn't think this thing through or people who are following the rules?

Expecting people to do the right thing is downright stupid. It's our money so they don't care.

When they run out, they run out. So yes, if a welfare recipient is at the back of the line, he/she loses out.

Sure need is subjective to a certain degree, but there are definitely those with greater need, so yeah, I totally blame the government for this. Trusting in people's good nature doesn't generally work. They could have distributed the gift cards differently, but that would have taken more time to organize, and I expect they just wanted to get them out there, but it really sucks for people to whom $100 is a LOT of money.

 

[PinkLucy]

It puzzles me how I don't recall ever hearing this phenomenon before or anything about it, nor anyone else I know. It must require some very precise conditions to develop otherwise I would expect it to be widely known in local folk lore. I also really don't grasp the mechanics of how it can be so loud. I understand that ice is expanding, pressure builds, and the bang is the ground shifting to release the pressure; but how much is required to have so many people here it? Or is it a rather localised sound but happening all over the place at once?

Try living in Northern Ontario

 

[James]

I believe I heard a couple of these weird noises too last night. At first I thought something fell, as the noise sounded like it came from somewhere outside or upstairs (hard to tell). While sleeping, I heard it again, but it seemed to be coming from the roof. After reading these articles, I'm pretty sure what I was hearing was, in fact, "frost quake" or "ice quake."

Another article: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/hearing-l...-ontario-it-was-likely-an-ice-quake-1.1616236

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Need is subjective. I blame the government on this one. If this is how they handle welfare then no wonder some people work the system.

You can't judge a person's financial situation by the car they drive IMO.

Also, are welfare recipients getting turned back? If so, who is at fault for that? The government who didn't think this thing through or people who are following the rules?

Expecting people to do the right thing is downright stupid. It's our money so they don't care.

The problem is that it will probably cost more to implement any kind of needs check - these type of thing is invariably bureaucratic, time consuming and you will always miss people who need it most (like seniors who might not be economically deprived but simply isn't in a position to shop for groceries or do banking by themselves). Alternatively, you can mail it out to avoid the problem of duplication, but again it will be slow going. An alternate method might be to ask neighbourhood community agency to do a door by door knock and delivery - but they probably won't have the resources for that, and logistics is a huge challenge (and again, it's a slow process). There is no easy solution for this one - and the government can only do so much short of using far more coercive methods.

AoD

 

[TheKingEast]

The problem is that it will probably cost more to implement any kind of needs check - these type of thing is invariably bureaucratic, time consuming and you will always miss people who need it most (like seniors who might not be economically deprived but simply isn't in a position to shop for groceries or do banking by themselves). Alternatively, you can mail it out to avoid the problem of duplication, but again it will be slow going. An alternate method might be to ask neighbourhood community agency to do a door by door knock and delivery - but they probably won't have the resources for that, and logistics is a huge challenge (and again, it's a slow process). There is no easy solution for this one - and the government can only do so much short of using far more coercive methods.

AoD

I agree, but from what I heard they made it seem as though anyone was eligible for it. They could have easily set some requirements which would have weeded out a lot of people.