Tornado cuts swath the length of Manitoulin

Untold hydro poles down,trees, buildings damaged

by Michael Erskine

MANITOULIN-An ominous cloak of dark clouds had already sent most people scurrying indoors by the time the worst storm in decades hit communities across Manitoulin and much of Northeastern Ontario.

"The devastation has been massive and the damage at this point is incalculable," said Community Services Officer Al Boyd as he joined the rest of the Manitoulin OPP detachment on the road. "We have all of our forces on the job."

As of press time, the OPP had confirmed that at least two twisters had touched down in the region.

Trees and power lines lay strewn across roadways from Meldrum Bay to Little Current, although according to Dave Ham, much of Manitowaning seemed to have escaped the worst of the storm. Northeast Town workers suggested that the Rockville area may be weeks getting back to a semblance of normality.

Municipal crews and hydro workers worked feverishly to clear main roads of downed trees and to secure power lines.

Best case scenerio, according to the OPP, would have had the power returning within 24 hours, but other estimates were that power might be days in returning to many areas.

Rockville electrician Brad Parkinson thought it was possible that power would be restored to the Little Current area by Tuesday, but the extent of the damage to power lines across Manitoulin likely means that much of the Island could be days without power.

Although some relatively minor injuries were reported, as of press time the OPP were unaware of any fatalities directly resulting from the storm.

Denis Riche and his family were in their camper at Green Acres when the full fury of the storm hit the area, toppling trees and sending one hurtling into the side of their camper.

"I grabbed the kids and went down to the water," he said. "It was the only place I could think of where we might be safe. There was stuff flying all around us."

Full grown mature trees lay strewn about the park and numerous camper trailers were crushed. "I couldn't get out," said one man. "The trees had totalled my car on the one side of the trailer and another had crushed my boat."

Hydro workers indicated that power to the entire Island was out, with all of the feeder lines down. Hydro One workers on the Island for vacation reported for work and were being pressed into service.

Christine Cosby was securing a tarp over the family boat when the full fury of the storm hit. She was still shaking hours after a tree smashed into the ramp leading into her home, with her disabled child inside.

"Thank God his worker was inside working on his legs," she said. "I was going out of my mind." The huge tree which smashed the wheelchair ramp had barely missed smashing into the house proper.

The path of the twister could easily be seen travelling down Wilson Street and onto Harbour Vue Road, where several hydro poles were snapped and transformers and lines sent hurtling into the street.

A Snappy's Furniture warehouse on Harbour Vue had its roof stripped off and one end of the building was sent flying into the bush like a crumpled piece of tinfoil. Other two-storey buildings in the area were also demolished, along with a number of barns.

Harbor Vue Marina owner Stan Ferguson and his crews were busily tying down docks and securing the area, but the devastation at his marina had him visibly shaken. Huge boats were toppled from their moorings in the shipyard and damage could not even begun to be tallied.

At the midway, which had begun setting up in front of the Northeast Town recreation centre, one young man was hit by flying debris. breaking his glasses rendering him unconscious. Although damage at the midway seemed relatively minor in scale to much of the destruction around it, the week's stay was canceled and crews were packing up to leave.

At the west end of the Island, Gore Bay was also hit heavily. "It was the most damage we've seen in a while. It seemed to take a path, and my father's house happened to be in the middle of it," said Matt Bayer. "We just finished cutting up the downed trees. All of the trees on his lot are down and his roof was damaged. Art Madore's house has a maple tree poking through it."

Mr. Steele added that there were five hydro poles out by Floyd Walker's corner and that he had heard there were two barns in Gordon down. "There was lots of property damage," he added, "but the marina was fine."

Anchor Inn co-owner Rob Norris of Little Current told the Expositor that he had been in Spring Bay when the storm hit Monday afternoon. He and his party took refuge in his car outside Sheila's Antiques where they witnessed a tree narrowly miss both the store and his vehicle.

Jane Hubbard, an Expositor staffer from Kagawong, noted that there was a window out in the upper floors of Edward's Studio which appeared to have damaged the Billings Town office. "There is police tape around the building and it looks like it is cordoned off."

The marina in Kagawong seems to have escaped serious damage, although both sides of the bay have extensive damage. "We did see three mangled trampolines in Kagawong," she said.

Ms. Hubbard, her husband Steve Radulovich and their daughter took refuge, along with a friend and their family dogs, in the basement of their house when they saw the storm approaching.

In Green Bay, local farmers took it upon themselves to help clean up he brush that had fallen on the roads. Matt Bayer told the Expositor that farmers like his dad Roy Bayer, Greg Pyette and others had gotten out with chainsaws and tractors to move debris off the roads and to help anyone else around.

"It was neat that the community got together to help," he said.

Several barns in the Green Bay area were destroyed, or seriously damaged. John Skippen lost one of his barns, but his neighbours helped him to get the cattle out. Ernie Kerhls lost his barn and Greg Pyette's barn was half blown down. No homes were damaged in the Green Bay area, as far as Mr. Bayer knew.

While the power may be out, the new generators at the Mindemoya and Little Current sites of the Manitoulin Health Centre are running well and are designed to power every aspect of each hospitals' requirements.

The generators were a priority with hospital CEO Jim Van Camp, who actively and successfully sought funding for the generator upgrades following the massive power outage in late August 2003.

The work was completed last fall, according to local electrical contractor Brad Parkinson, who was actively involved in the upgrades.

The Expositor crew worked through the night, their computers powered by a large generator. Both Jeff Crowell of Annette's Automotive and electrician Carmen Ferguson of Little Current came through in a pinch after the power draw blew out the Expositor generator's fuses, bringing the necessary equipment down to the offices to get the system back up and running.

Little Current entrepreneur Bruce O'Hare was quick to adapt to the situation, hauling out his hot dog cart and ice-chilled beverages to keep patrons fed and happy.

In Little Current, as darkness fell, the only lights visible were those on the Little Current Swing Bridge, which uses its own generator. Thanks to the generator, the bridge continues to swing uninterrupted during power outages like this one.

Nearing midnight, power was being restored to parts of Little Current intermittently, but only half of Water Street was alight as of writing.

17-year-old girl perishes in boat crash on L. Manitou

by Jim Moodie

LAKE MANITOU-Newby's Bay is a quiet corner of Lake Manitou, shielded from prevailing winds, its surface plied by slow-moving fishing boats. Jet Skis are rare, roostertailing speedboats rarer still.

Last Wednesday evening started out much like any other. The wind was a light one, out of the west; skies were clear, with a bright orange sun dropping slowly towards the end of the bay, where a listing government dock is located.

Camille Ross, a recently retired barber who lives along the south shore of Newby's Bay, set out for a typical evening of leisurely angling. As he putted along the shoreline, he passed two teenagers-Justine Martin, the granddaughter of his neighbour Eileen Martin, and a male cousin. The two were in a small, 12-foot aluminum boat, presumably fishing as well. Mr. Ross waved at them. The teens waved back.

Shortly thereafter-unbeknownst to Mr. Ross, who had continued over towards Green Bay-a 17-foot fiberglass boat would round Lucar Point and plow into the tin boat occupied by the teens.

The pair saw it coming and tried to get the driver's attention, according to cottager Betty Godfrey, who was visiting with Justine's grandmother in the Martin cottage at the time. "They were both waving their arms and shouting," she said.

But the boat kept coming. "The boy saw that it was going to hit them, and he jumped and told the girl to jump," said Mrs. Godfrey.

The boy emerged unscathed, but Justine-a 17-year-old from Sudbury, whom teachers describe as a role model and "special girl"-died from injuries sustained in the accident.

Mrs. Godfrey said that after the girl was brought to shore, her husband, Hank, "ran down and did CPR and tried to save her," but it was too late.

Mr. Ross had no idea that this tragedy was unfolding, even though he was out on the lake at the time. "I was fishing at the point, about a mile away, but I'm half-deaf anyway, so I didn't hear anything," he said. "I saw the other boat coming out of Green Bay, going pretty fast, but I didn't pay any attention to it."

When he later found out that there had been a terrible accident, and that his neighbour's granddaughter had died, he was shaken and shocked. "This is usually a very quiet bay, and it was nice and clear," he said.

Hank Harcha, who was staying at a cottage on the north shore of Newby's Bay, was also out on the lake at the time. He missed witnessing the accident, too, but sensed that something awful had occurred when he found the teens' empty boat adrift near Lucar Point.

"We were out fishing near Camp Mary Anne and came in at about 8 o'clock," he said. "We saw a little 12-foot boat next to the shore over there and I asked my wife, 'Is there anyone in it?'" She thought there was at first, but "it turned out to be the trolling motor," he said.

The Harchas took a closer look, and discovered that the boat was not only empty, but that floating nearby were "two boots, a tennis shoe, a life vest and a hat," said Mr. Harcha. "I thought that was a bad sign, so I phoned 911, and towed the boat over to the (government) dock."

The cottager noted that "there wasn't a whole lot of damage to the little boat. There were minnows in it, life jackets, a package of cigarettes and a lighter. I had no idea what I'd found, so I just pulled it in."

An ambulance had already responded by that point, he would soon discover, and later that evening Mr. Harcha learned that a young woman had died.

Police spent most of the following day conducting an investigation at the scene of the mishap, studying the two vessels on shore to determine, from the extent and location of their damage, the exact nature of the collision and whether or not equipment malfunctions may have played a role. Assisting local OPP officers were members of the Northeast region traffic and marine unit, and the forensic identification unit. A technical collision expert specializing in the reconstruction of marine accidents was on the scene as well.

Alcohol is not considered a factor in the accident, according to police, and the weather, by all accounts, was mild that evening, with only a light wind stirring the water. The incident occurred well before dusk, at approximately 8 pm, police estimate. One officer helping out in the investigation on Thursday expressed mystification at how a tragedy of this nature could occur, shaking his head and calling it "senseless."

The only explanation that Mr. Harcha can come up with is that the driver of the bigger boat might have been blinded by the sinking sun.

No charges had been laid as of press time, and police were not releasing the names of the individual or individuals who were operating the larger boat, but sources indicate that the vessel belonged to a family from the US who have a cottage on Newby's Bay.

A post mortem was conducted on Thursday in Sudbury, but police had not yet released the results as of press time. It is clear, however, that the fatality occurred as a result of injuries sustained when the teen was struck by the boat.

The deceased's parents were in Sudbury at the time of the accident, but rushed over when they learned what had happened. The girl's grandmother-still grieving her husband, Gary, who passed away last fall-was devastated. "She was frantic on the night it happened," said friend and neighbour, Mrs. Godfrey. "I wanted to go to the hospital with her, but I couldn't, because I had my grandson with me." She and her husband, who hail from Sault Ste. Marie but have cottaged on Newby's Bay for years, becoming close friends with the Martin family, "tried to console her" as best they could, but there was only so much they could say.

"She had brought the three grandchildren over from Sudbury with her," said Mrs. Godfrey. "And she's still just getting over her husband's death."

Residents of Newby's Bay remain perplexed and shocked by the tragedy. As Reva Kitler, a long-time denizen of the bay, noted, "in all the years I've been here, there has never been an accident."

A tragedy of this nature is unusual for Lake Manitou as a whole. Despite being the Island's largest lake, Manitou counts few examples of mishaps or drownings. The last fatality that anyone remembers occurred in the winter, when local well driller John Wright perished while trying to retrieve another vehicle from beneath the ice.

In water for 10 long hours, Tish Smith credits her dog Echo for Saving her life!

by Lindsay Kelly and Jim Moodie

LITTLE CURRENT-A near-fatal canoeing accident has left a Manitoulin woman shaken, but alive and recuperating, after a freak thunderstorm on Sunday capsized her canoe and left her floating in the North Channel for nearly 12 hours.

Tish Smith, a Poplar resident who, with her husband, Ted, operates Gypsy Family Farm, was the subject of a dramatic search and rescue effort, which began on Sunday around 3 pm, and lasted until just after 9 pm, when Ms. Smith was brought to the Little Current site of the Manitoulin Health Centre and treated for hypothermia.

Speaking on Monday night, having returned to the family home after a night in the hospital, Ms. Smith said she was still "feeling a little rough." Because of the enzymes released by her muscles while frantically trying to paddle her canoe to shore, and then swimming through crashing waves after capsizing, "I'm going to be sore for a while," she said.

The slight woman, who weighs just 112 pounds, was so hypothermic by the end of her ordeal that she was close to death. "I came so close I didn't realize it," she remarked. "I was unconscious in the water when they picked me up, and they said my arms and face were blue, just like a Smurf."

Ms. Smith credits her trusty canine pal Echo, a husky-shepherd cross who was the runt of her litter, for saving her life. "She's the most amazing dog," Ms. Smith remarked. "She's my best friend."

It was the sight of Echo, swimming in circles around her unconscious master, that first caught the attention of the search and rescue team, allowing them to locate and save both Ms. Smith and the dog.

The two had set out at 6 am on Sunday from the northeast corner of Clapperton Island, on the final day of a five-day canoeing expedition in the North Channel. "It was calm as glass when we started out," she noted. But later that morning a storm blew up, and Ms. Smith had to paddle with all her might to try to reach the next landfall. "I was 50 feet from an island, going so hard with every muscle, but a huge wind came over and spun the canoe around."

Ms. Smith decided to head back to Clapperton Island, but never got there. The waves were getting bigger, and she realized the canoe was on the verge of getting swamped. "I talked to Echo, and said, 'We're going in (the water),' because I knew," said Ms. Smith.

She tried to put a life jacket on Echo, but "she wouldn't tolerate it," said the dog owner with a chuckle. "So I put the other life jacket on as well, so I was wearing two."

When they went into the water, Ms. Smith said her first concern was for the dog, whom she supported by holding one arm around her belly, while grasping her collar with her other hand to keep her head up. With her arms busy holding Echo, she could only use her feet to swim with, but the two life jackets kept her buoyant.

They also helped save her life, by keeping her head above water after she passed out. Ms. Smith isn't sure how long she was unconscious, but she remembers a wave coming over her head, making her feel disoriented, while she was still a mile or so from shore. That occurred around 10 am, she reckoned. "That's the last thing I remember until I woke up in the emergency department."

When she did awake, "my first thought was, what happened to the dog?" she said. It turned out Echo was fine, and being boarded temporarily at the home of Mike and Jane Cooper in Little Current, while Ms. Smith recuperated in the hospital.

"When we picked her up today, we brought them a basket of goodies as a thank you," Ms. Smith noted. "Echo was so happy to see us," she added. "She's a wonderful dog, and I'm convinced she saved my life."

Manitoulin OPP Constable Al Boyd said the search began on Sunday at 3:20 pm when a boater notified the OPP they had found a partially submerged canoe floating in the North Channel. This finding was corroborated by a second boater, while a third boater reported finding Ms. Smith's camping equipment to staff at Spider Bay Marina.

"The alert staff at Spider Bay Marina thought it sounded like someone had capsized, and they called it into the police," Constable Boyd related.

Constable Dave Mallette immediately set to organizing a search and rescue effort, which included the two boats in the OPP marine unit, the OPP helicopter and a helicopter from the Canadian Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton.

The effort was greatly assisted by the intuitive efforts of Constable Robert Manley, who, while off-duty a day earlier, had been boating in the Clapperton Island area when he came across Ms. Smith's campsite, and saved her coordinates into his GPS unit.

"You don't normally see a lone female camping alone-it hits a strange note," Constable Boyd said, explaining the officer's apprehension. During the search the next day, "he was able to provide her coordinates from his GPS and pinpoint her position, and the search and rescue guys were able to coordinate information on the water currents and set up a grid search."

Ms. Smith was found around 8 pm on Sunday evening, roughly 12 hours after her canoe first capsized, and Constable Boyd confirmed she was "tired and exhausted, but in good condition."

During this heatwave, it may seem unlikely that Ms. Smith could suffer from hypothermia, but Constable Boyd said that the length of time spent in the water contributed to her hypothermic state. If the water's temperature had been much colder, Constable Boyd estimated that Ms. Smith may not have survived the ordeal.

He credits a combination of several factors with the successful rescue. First and foremost, he believes Ms. Smith's life jacket-which had her name and phone number written on it-played a pivotal role in saving her life. "I can't stress enough how important it is to wear a life jacket when you're in any vessel, whether it's in a small canoe or a larger vessel," he said. "When Ms. Smith headed out, she was in calm waters-and she's an experienced canoeist-but the freak storm came out of nowhere."

Echo, the shepherd that Ms. Smith clung to while in the water, is also credited with providing enough body heat to stave off hypothermia as long as she did.

The boaters who provided information, Constable Manley's preventive measures in saving Ms. Smith's coordinates, the quick-thinking staff at Spider Bay Marina, and the immediacy with which Constable Mallette dispatched the search and rescue team all played crucial roles.

And, finally, the OPP marine unit, the OPP helicopter, and the search and rescue helicopter all contributed greatly to the rescue.

"If she had been in the water another 45 minutes..." Constable Boyd trailed off here, but his meaning is plain. He then added, "We could have been dealing with a very tragic situation."

Ms. Smith is extremely grateful to everybody who assisted in the rescue. "I appreciate everyone's help so much," she said with emotion, adding, "everyone in the hospital was just wonderful."

Asked whether she would embark on another canoe outing of this nature, Ms. Smith indicated she might, "but I would probably go with another person."

Echo, needless to say, would be welcome company again. "Of all our five dogs, she was the one I thought would be good on a canoe trip," said Ms. Smith. "She's such a strong swimmer, and she proved how good she is. We have a great relationship."

EDITORIAL

Rural pluck shows its form when disaster strikes

On Manitoulin Island, anywhere else in Northern Ontario or in rural Canada for that matter, we're a practical lot.

Most of the time, we get top marks for rolling up our sleeves and doing the necessary.

The tornado that seemed to pick on Manitoulin's most densely populated communities when it touched down on Monday underscored this practical habit of ours.

Within, literally, minutes of the end of the 10-minute fury (for that is the longest the freakishly high winds spent anywhere on Manitoulin), people were outside, cautiously at first, assessing what damage, if any, had been wreaked on their own or their neighbours' property.

Then they were out with their chainsaws, bucking up trees and branches fallen on their own properties before moving on to help out neighbours, friends and relatives.

The farming community in Green Bay (and likely there are other similar examples that this paper hadn't heard of by press time Monday) got out in force to clear roadways of debris, assisting the municipal road crews, making their work manageable in their community.

The Hydro One crews were on the job where fallen wires and dangling transformers were a hazard even before the tornado's rains had let up and worked late into the night and more.

Municipal work crews across the Island moved quickly (but not before the farm force in Green Bay) to move branches and other debris from the streets and sidewalks.

And the phones were busy, with people from all Island communities calling friends and relatives in other local towns to see if they were all right, and how the tornado had been in their place.

There is sadness too. No-one likes to hear the sort of thing that took down boat storage buildings at Harbor Vue Marina and tumbled some boats around the yard, or the serious damage to the Snappy Furniture storage building in the same vicinity, or the wrecking of a Randy Noble Trucking building nearby, or the damage at Norm's Park near Kagawong, Green Acres near Sheguiandah or to trailers for sale at Batman's Tent and Trailer Park, also near Sheguiandah.

But again, in all those situations, friends were out to do what they could to help. While this doesn't lessen the impact, it hopefully helps make it bearable.

Was this a solitary freak of nature?

No-one can recall anything like it. But then again, three weeks ago, no-one had previously seen a funnel cloud (a close cousin of a tornado) on Lake Manitou either.

People are already relating these anomalies to global warming. Scientifically true or not, that's maybe not such a bad thing, as we pause to look at our own use of the planet and the leadership on this issue we expect from our political elite.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Writer grateful monument mystery cleared up

Honouring of non-mainstream Canadians a wonderful gesture

To the Expositor:

Thank you to the editor for writing about Douglas Campbell's stone monument on Highway 540. I don't know how many times I've driven past with friends and asked them what it was. Nobody seemed to know.

More delightful than clearing up the mystery, Mr. Campbell's honouring of important Canadians who are not "mainstream" heroes is a wonderful gesture. He may be interested to know that I worked for one such Canadian during the last few years of his life. That was Ted Allan. The first Canadian to be nominated for an Oscar for screenwriting, for his autobiographical story "Lies My Father Told Me", Mr. Allan also possessed the most comprehensive collection of Norman Bethune's letters and journals, the bulk of which informed the movie about Bethune that starred Donald Sutherland.

The reason Ted Allan possessed Bethune's letters is because they were personal friends. Ted was responsible for raising the funds that sent Bethune to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Ted was there in a journalistic capacity, hanging out with the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Franz Capa, the famous war photographer who, like Bethune, died later in China.

Working for Ted Allan was, for me, a romp through the pages of Canadian history that I never learned in school. He was blacklisted by the CBC for his left-leaning sympathies and lived much of his adult life in London, working for the BBC, and in Paris where he staged successful theatre productions. He passed away in his eighties, unknown, struggling with finances, in a small flat in Toronto's Greektown. Too many Canadian heroes who made history have passed away like that, unknown and unrecognized. Perhaps Mr. Campbell can add Ted Allan's name to the monument. It would make one Canadian, at least, very happy.

Sincerely

Beth Richards-Mastin

M'Chigeeng

Stolen water tube devastates youngsters

Do the honourable thing and return the toy to its rightful owners

To the Expositor:

It breaks my heart to put this to paper but stealing is unacceptable and totally wrong. My son, daughter-in-law and two little grandsons live in Sudbury and work all week and can't wait to come to the Island on weekends. Their boat was at Todd Corbiere's Repairs, who I might add is another hard working and kind young man trying to make a living as is my son and his family. My two little grandsons' water tube along with the family cooler were stolen off their boat in Todd's yard while the boat was waiting for repair.  My 5 year old little baby was devastated that his tube was stolen and did nothing but cry. "Shame on you" to have taken someone else's things. This is not a necessity, it's not food, it's nothing but pure greed and unkindness. If you want things, work for it like my family does, don't steal it. Do the honourable thing and return these times to Todd's yard in the night like you stole it. Things in life aren't free, you have to earn them. Help me console my two little hearts and I pray that this family, along with others, don't stop coming to Manitoulin.

Sue Leblanc

Gore Bay

Minister of Health congratulates yacht club

FedNor proud to be a part of third Mackinac to Manitoulin International yacht race

To the Expositor:

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Little Current Yacht Club board of directors and volunteers involved in the organization of the third annual Mackinac to Manitoulin International Yacht Race and to officially welcome our American friends.

FedNor was proud to be part of the inaugural race in 2004. This year, our investment supported a multi-media advertising campaign in and around the Great Lakes area, which played a key role in attracting over 125 sailors, plus support crews and spectators to Gore Bay and Little Current. I know that they will be encouraged to explore this beautiful region further before heading to their home ports.

As Minister for FedNor, I understand the importance of the marine tourism industry on Manitoulin Island. Our government's investment in Northern Ontario tourism initiatives will result in a strengthened economy for all.

Congratulations again to everyone involved and enjoy your time sailing the North Channel!

Tony Clement

Minister of Health

Minister for FedNor