Ice storm cost Markham 10,000 trees, $13M, city says
Region's CAO's are discussing disaster relief application

January 9, 2014
Markham Economist & Sun

The ice storm of 2013 not only cost Markham some 10,000 trees but recovery efforts could cost taxpayers about $13 million.

Those are preliminary estimates. Once an actual assessment of damage is completed by city crews, recovery costs will increase, officials said Wednesday.

City council hosted a special general committee meeting to get a better understanding of the damage left behind the ice storm that ravaged York Region Dec. 22.

Council heard from city staff on how the emergency operation centre functioned, how the city tried to manage the storm and the damage so far and where the city failed its residents.

The city’s emergency plan was put to work at the onset of the ice storm.

The city started its storm preparations Dec. 18 when staff actively monitored weather reports, a plan of action and the city’s emergency operations centre was established Dec. 20.

The emergency operation centre became a hub of activity and was responsible for the direction, control, co-ordination and support during an emergency.

On Dec. 22 at about 2:24 a.m., fire staff identified significant power outages, by 9:46 a.m. senior staff were in place at the emergency operation centre and by 12:30 p.m. the emergency operation centre activated its level one emergency plan.

The city’s initial response phase included removing hazardous tree limbs and will continue for the next seven to nine weeks. It is estimated to cost between $2.6 million and $3.2 million.

That includes items such as a newly hired supervisor to manage contracted work crews for the response phase, staff overtime costs and special tree debris collection service.

The recovery phase is a two-year project that includes planting new trees and removing damaged trees, costing the city between $7 million and $10 million.

The cost is between $700 and $1,000 per tree and costs are expected to go up as tree availability will decrease and demand for trees will increase throughout the GTA.

To date, the estimated response and recovery effort will cost between $9.6 million and $13.2 million.

Since ash trees represent about a third of the damaged trees, senior staff are suggesting about a third of costs – between $3.2 million to $4.4 million – be funded through the city’s Emerald Ash Borer management program.

Another source of funding is through the Trees for Tomorrow program, where $120,000 will be committed to city trees over the next seven years. The city has to find a way to cover the remaining recovery costs, which could be between $5.6 million and $8 million depending on the cost of tree replanting.

One way to offset that cost is to dip into the city’s corporate rate stabilization reserve, which was designed to maintain the city’s cash flow, minimize the need for short-term borrowing and smooth out fluctuations due to one-time expenditures.

That would mean a 0.5 per cent tax increase for the next five years to replenish the reserve fund.

The city could also apply for disaster relief assistance funding from the province and has until Jan. 14 to officially declare Markham as a disaster area.

Disaster funding will only cover clearing and removal of debris, not the planting of trees.

There is a conference meeting between all municipal CAOs in the region this week to discuss a disaster relief application on a regionwide basis.

Based on what is decided at the regional level, Markham council may call a special council meeting early next week to declare the city a disaster area in order to apply for provincial funding.

City staff are in the process of establishing a future work plan and tree recovery program and will be presented to committee later in the spring.

During the next several weeks, the city will have weekly online updates on the city’s recovery process and tree debris collection progress.

The high number of damaged trees in the city is also a reduction in natural infrastructure for storm and air quality as well as a reduction in habitat for various animal species.

There was an increase in greenhouse gases during the ice storm as some in the community powered up generators.

Markham fire services responded to more than 370 emergencies between Dec. 21 and 30, with the bulk between Dec. 22 and 23, along with more than 225 calls and 42 carbon monoxide calls.

Emergency response times did increase by about a minute as a result of hazardous and low lying tree limbs and power lines and uncontrolled traffic lights.

City staff are in full recovery mode with the first round of tree debris cleanup under way. It is expected to take between seven and nine weeks.

The city is still in the initial stages of removing larger tree limbs along major street and roads. More localized routes and cleanup efforts will start next week.

After assessing tree damage along city streets, staff will also assess tree damage along creeks, riverbeds and valleys, where tree debris could cause serious flooding when the snow melts.

Along with the current tree debris collection on Mondays, the city is also looking at adding more tree debris collection days in the spring in co-ordination with the city’s yard waste collection.

Residents are reminded to put tree debris, including twigs, branches and limbs out to the curb as soon as possible to help waste collection crews determine high priority areas.

Residents are also encouraged to take larger tree debris such as entire tree trunks to the Bloomington Yard Waste Depot, 1351 Bloomington Rd., Richmond Hill.

The city has also asked the region to extend the yard waste depot hours to include Saturday.

What for a story on what the city learned from all of this next week.

BY THE NUMBERS:

•17,200 – customers in Markham without power at the ice storm’s peak on Dec. 22 at 11 a.m. More than 85 per cent of affected homes were restored to power within 36 hours.

• 4,000 – damaged trees in parks and woodlots;

• 6,000 – damaged trees along city streets, of which about 33 per cent are ash trees;

• $2.6 to 3.2 million – immediate cleanup costs;

• $7 to 10 million – long-term recovery costs, which includes removing damage trees and replanting new trees;

• 47 – city senior staff manned the emergency operating centre on a rotated basis and logged about 650 hours between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30

• 371 – incidents responded to by Markham Fire and Emergency Services between Dec. 21 and 30, which is double the four-year average. Fire services also responded to 11 fires and 42 carbon monoxide calls;

• 42 – residents stayed over night at the city’s warming centres in on Dec. 23 including 12 at the Thornhill Community centre and 30 at the Milliken Mills Community Centre. More than 30 residents stayed overnight and 110 residents stayed at the warming centre during the day on Dec. 24;

• 5,200 – calls were received by the city’s contact centre between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30, with the bulk of calls, about 1,500 coming in between midnight and 7 p.m. on Dec. 24;

• 2,300 – work orders filed by the city’s contact centre including 1,800 orders related to fallen trees and broken branches and 345 orders related to road conditions and snowplow operations;

• 235 – tweets sent out from the city between Dec. 19 to Dec. 31, with the bulk of tweets sent Dec. 22, reaching out to potentially 883,000 people.