November 25th 2007

The Lilith eZine Sunday Edition

Letter from the Editor

Winter is upon us, call the army!

Yes, it is snowing in Toronto. Like it does every year. Torontonians will never live down the shame when former mayor Mel Lastman called in the army for help in 1999.

But frankly if you look at the statistics it is no surprise. The Blizzard of 1999 (as it now called) dumped 118 cm (over 3.5 feet) of snow on the city of Toronto over January 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The temperature dropped to -30 Celsius and -70 with the wind chill. The Blizzard was so huge it hit six American states, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. Most places got less than 55 cm (22 inches) of snow, but Toronto got a whopping 118 cm.

It was the third and hardest of three blizzards to hit the city in less than a month. The blizzard killed 73 people in the USA and Canada. Damages were estimated to be about $300 to $400 million. Then President Bill Clinton declared parts of Indiana and Illinois to be federal disaster areas.

The city was admittedly in complete disarray as its meager supply of snow plows simply could not keep up with the sheer amount of snow and transportation (the life blood of any city's economy) was next to impossible without a dog sled or snowshoes.

Given time Toronto could have dug itself out, but Mayor Lastman was getting angry calls from Bay Street financiers worried about the economic issues and panicked. Under the circumstances it is perhaps not surprising he called in 400 troops to help dig the city out.

But Toronto will never live down the shame.

Sincerely,
Suzanne MacNevin
Editor of the Lilith eZine

PS. I'm not sure if it is the weather outside or if our writers are just taking a breather. Bit of a shortage this week. Maybe they're outside enjoying the last remnants of warmth before winter fully sets in.


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