Storm cleanup could take months in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, officials say

INGLESIDE, ONT. -

As thousands of people remain without power along parts of the Seaway, authorities say tree clean-up could take months after Wednesday's deadly ice storm. 

Ontario Provincial Police confirm a 59-year-old man from South Stormont Township was killed, after he was struck by a falling branch on his property.

Storm damage can be seen everywhere across Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Counties, like near Gallingertown, where a broken power line lies across County Road 18.

Resident John Sealy says he lost power at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

"We've got to do something because we've got fridges full of food and deep freezes full and we're at the mercy of finding a generator," Sealy said. 

He just drove back from Cornwall, with every store he visited sold out. He even had family trying to find one in Ottawa.

"If not I don't know, maybe I'll have to go to Kingston to get one. I'm going to have to do something," Sealy said. 

His property, not as bad as others, but he noted some smaller tress were bent over with the weight of the ice, almost touching the ground. 

"I hope they come back. We will see," he said.

The clean-up continues at the Long Sault Motel following Wednesday's storm. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Along Highway 2, clean-up continued at the Long Sault Motel.

"We've got trees down and the power outage and all the cable and everything is down and this has been pretty bad," said owner Shazina Niazi

On the phone to see how long power and cable would be restored, she was given no timeline.

"The crew is working, they are working since early this morning and you can see the damages at the back as well," Niazi noted. "This year was bad for the trees."

A broken utility pole in Cornwall, Ont. following Wednesday's storm. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

On the west end of Cornwall, Power Dam Road was closed for hours as a utility pole needed to be replaced.

Director of Transportation for SD&G Counties Ben de Haan says this storm is like none other.

"It seemed to be the further north we got, the more ice we were getting, and for what we experienced, it happened very, very fast," de Haan said. 

"It seems to be that the area closer to Cornwall was one of the least impacted areas and it's certainly still impacted around here," he noted. 

Crews from Cornwall Electric trim broken branches following Wednesday's storm. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

He said crews have been working around the clock to clear branches from the 1,000 kilometres of roads in the counties, with the cost to clean up, extraordinary.

"We'll be out of tree budget easily, easily, within a couple weeks with what we're dealing with right now," he said. 

"Patience is key. Please keep an eye on your basements and make sure you are staying dry," he advised residents. "Hopefully, they will get through this all together."

"Roads are open and certainly we're in constant communication with emergency services to know where they can get to and where they might be having trouble to get to," de Haan said. 

"We really, really appreciate the people that took the time with their chainsaws, tractors, and what not, just to push some trees off the roadways so that emergency services vehicles could still get through," he said. 

But he said some areas in the counties could take months to clean up. 

"We're going to be struggling, and we are expecting it will June, July, by the time we're all cleaned up," de Haan said. 

"Of course first efforts are getting the roads open again and safe and then after that it's going through and actually cleaning up our roadsides, getting branches out of ditches and all of those kinds of activities that need to be done," he added.