Port Dover cleans up after icy 'blanket of death' that flooded homes, roads

Christy Miedema watched for hours Sunday as chunks of ice and frigid water from Lake Erie crept steadily closer to the front stoop of her Port Dover business like a "calm blanket of death."

The owner of Liberty Home Decor and Gift Boutique shut down early so customers wouldn't be tempted to risk roads covered in lake water that had been pushed up onto land by wicked winds gusting over 100 km/h. 

Meanwhile, provincial police closed down streets and emergency crews rescued several people stranded in homes that had suddenly become surrounded.

Ice and water was 'hypnotizing' as it rose

Still, Miedema stuck it out a little longer, mesmerized by the forces of nature that flooded a handful of homes and completely covered some streets.

"It was hypnotizing. It was actually fascinating watching the way the ice seemed to undulate," she said Monday. "It looked like a solid mass, but the waves under it moved it."

Miedema posted videos on her Facebook page throughout the day, while the water climbed as high as her bottom step.

"It just kept coming up. I was wondering how much higher it was going to get," she said, comparing the creaking ice powered by howling winds to a "calm blanket of death."

Eventually she escaped out a back door, hopped in her car and drove around road-closed barriers to get home.

Roads re-opened Monday as the water receded, but Miedema still wasn't sure what she'd find when she returned to her business. What if pans of heavy ice had shattered those same from windows she'd looked out to watch the storm?

What she found was a harbour that almost looked as though the flooding had never happened.

Sidewalks were clear and salted and the ice that had threatened her shop was heaped in a massive pile.

"I was not expecting it to be truly all gone," she said with surprise in her voice.

Crews worked hard to clear ice

Amy Martin, the Norfolk County councillor who represents Port Dover credited that transformation to the hard work of road and public work crews.

Staff worked through the night to monitor water levels and fix stop lights that had blown over as the storm battered the community.

"About 1 a.m., as soon as those water levels receded back into the lake, the teams went down, re-opend the roads, salted them and tried to remove as much ice as possible," she explained.

They had their work cut out for them, too.

The typically sandy entrance to the town's well-known beach disappeared under water.

"All of that was just full-flowing waves," said Martin.

'I knew it wasn't going to be good'

The water rose so quickly several people across the county, including a 77-year-old Sandy Brown, had to be rescued.

Brown has lived in Port Dover for 17 years, but said she'd never seen ice stack up the way it did Sunday.

"When I saw the ice I knew it wasn't going to be good," she said. Thinking she had time, Brown started to pack, but soon realized she was trapped, so she called in the fire department.

"They brought their raft … they got me out and put my car up the hill for me."

After spending a night in a motel, Brown returned home to find her house surrounded by so much ice she can't use her driveway.

She doesn't plan to try to chip away at it though — she's going to wait for it to melt.

"Mother nature takes care of it," she said.

Not everyone was willing to wait that long. On Monday morning OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk posted a video to Twitter about cleanup efforts. A front-end loader could be seen clearing large hunks of snow and ice off the pier behind him.

"It looks totally different today than it did yesterday," he said.

A wind warning that covered all of southern Ontario was cancelled Monday morning, but a blowing snow advisory remains in effect.

Sanchuk pointed out it's still "very gusty" in Port Dover and cautioned travellers to take their time — especially on the back roads.

"If you are driving today be prepared, you may run into visibility issues, whiteout conditions," he said. "Make sure you realize that the snow blowing across the roadway is turning to ice, so be prepared to slow down."

A 'grumpy' lake and a grateful shop owner

Martin said the wild, winter weather is nothing new for longtime residents who know to batten down the hatches when the wind blows, but it could have come as a surprise for newcomers.

Miedema opened her harbour-front shop about eight months ago and said despite the icy baptism her store experienced Sunday, her relationship with the lake is still a good one.

"Even though she can be grumpy. I'm still happier to be here."