Power won’t be restored until the beginning of August for some cottagers on Renfrew County’s Norway Lake.
Officials with the Township of Greater Madawaska said Monday’s storm caused so much damage that some people won’t get their power back until Wednesday, Aug. 1.
"That means our residents in that area will be without power for ten days," said Greater Madawaska fire chief Betsy Sayer, who said the damage "looked like a giant walked through."
"I'd say this is the worst since the ice storm in '98 for these people up here," said Hydro One worker Dave Akey, whose crews have to bury downed lines because too many poles are down.
"This is the worst I've seen it and I've been with Hydro for 26 years, worked a lot of storms in the area."
There is no need for the township to declare a state of emergency since roads have been cleared and people can come and go as they need.
However, cottagers said it's still too long of an outage.
"How do you survive? How do you keep your food fresh from spoiling? There's all kind of things you have to think about," said Terry Hunt. "You have to buy fuel for (a generator), change oil in it, you can't run these things 24 hours straight."
Since the area is full of cottages that aren’t people’s primary residence, most people won’t be eligible for disaster relief as they should just be able to return home - although many seniors live in these homes year-round.
Donna Leclaire's said her neighbours lost their roof and insurance can only do so much.
"We're all struggling because it's extra money out of your pocket," she said. "You have to come up with money for everything - woodchipper, gas for generators. It's overwhelming."
The township will be able to apply to the provincial government for clean-up money within the next two weeks.
Environment Canada said Wednesday the lake northwest of Ottawa suffered the worst damage during a period of severe thunderstorms on Monday, mostly coming from a “macroburst” of very strong winds.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
