Storm wreaks havoc on Kingston and area

Many residents awoke to find themselves with no power on Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 – That is, if they weren’t already awake from the incredibly high winds and sounds of the storm’s destruction.

Torrential rains hit Kingston and the area on Halloween night, beginning in the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, and continuing through the night. Many places in Kingston and the surrounding areas experienced flooding, particularly as storm sewers became jammed up with fallen leaves and debris, and the rains came faster than they could drain.

Luckily, the high winds held off until after trick-or-treaters were inside, but winds reached gusts of 107 km/hr overnight, toppling trees and knocking out powerlines for many area residents. Environment Canada reports Kingston got 52.4 mm of rain throughout the storm.

Here’s everything we know in the aftermath.

Power

Utilities Kingston initially reported 6,000 customers were without power, but worked quickly to restore power to a majority of them before 11 a.m., when 1,294 customers remained without power.

“Customers in the Campbell Crescent area and CFB Kingston should be prepared for a longer duration outage. Our apologies for the inconvenience,” Utilities Kingston said. “Several intersections have been damaged by wind. Look up for dangling traffic signal heads and proceed with caution. Remember to treat signal outages as four-way stops.”

To view the Utilities Kingston Outage Map, click here.

HydroOne is also reporting widespread outages in the area, with the Islands being hit particularly hard. At its peak, over 4000 residents in the Hydro One service area were without power between Kingston and Napanee. To view HydroOne’s Storm Centre map of outages, click here.

All power is expected to be restored in the Kingston area by 8 p.m.

For those on Amherst Island, the Amherst Island Fire Station is open for any residents who would need a warm place to wait for their power to be restored.

Ferries

Those on Wolfe Island are currently being served by the Frontenac II, which has remained at the Kingston dock all morning. The ferry is currently taking a trial run, but will return should the captain feel the voyage is unsafe at any time. Follow @WolfeIslander3 on Twitter for the latest updates. Additionally, the Wolfe Islander III will not be returning to Kingston this week as previously scheduled.

The Amherst Island Ferry was out of service all morning, but returned to regular service just after 10 a.m.

The Glenora Ferry is experiencing issues with power, which is causing some delays in service.

According to the County of Frontenac, the Howe Island County ferry is in service, and the Howe Island Township ferry is running with interruptions due to wind and water levels.

Closures

Although St. Lawrence College was without power early this morning, power has been restored and classes have resumed.

The United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFLA) offices are without power and remain closed for the day.

The Communications and Electronics Museum is without power and remains closed.

St. Lawrence College Employment Service at 785 Midpark Drive is closed until further notice.

The Tim Hortons at Arlington Park is closed.

Kingston Military Family Resource Centre is closed.

The Hospice Kingston office is closed.

The fence is broken at the dog park at the Memorial Centre. Please do not off-leash dogs there until the issue is addressed.

Much of the CFB Kingston area is without power or only operating with half-power, so many locations there will be closed, as well.

If you know of any closures, let us know and we’ll add them to the list to ensure people are aware.

Downed trees and power lines

Many intersections in Kingston lost their traffic lights during the storm. Intersections without functioning traffic lights are to be treated as four-way stops. Please be safe and patient on the roads today, Kingston.

The following is a gallery of downed trees causing traffic disruptions, as well as intersections with missing traffic lights. If you know of any other locations, let us know so we can make readers aware.

King Street West was hit particularly hard, and many intersections have non-functioning traffic lights including King Street West at Lower University Avenue, King Street West at Albert Street, and King Street West at Beverly Street. Exercise caution in City Park and Skeleton Park (McBurney Park), as a number of trees have fallen and may have impacted power lines. Additionally, there are missing traffic lights at Sir John A Macdonald Boulevard and Union Street.

Kingstonist will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as new information becomes available. Stay safe, Kingston!