Ice storm aftermath: The dark spot in a power-restored neighbourhood

On Monday morning Sheri Hebdons power came back, restored by Toronto Hydro after the ice storm left power lines strewn across the lawn of the familys east-end home.

Hebdon, her wife, their three young children and their dog joyfully returned home.

But the next day, Christmas Eve, the power line was disconnected by Toronto Hydro because it was unsafe due to a damaged electrical mast attaching the wires to their house.

They would have to pay for a licensed electrician to come out and fix it before a hydro crew could reconnect them.

So, once again, just as the Star reported Sunday , the Maatta-Hebdon family packed a suitcase and moved to a friends place, just in time for Christmas.

On Boxing Day, an electrician came by and repaired the mast at a cost of $2,000 but by the end of the week, power still had not been switched on.

I dont mind waiting a week, I dont even mind waiting a month, says Hebdon. What she does mind is that she has no idea when Toronto Hydro is going to reconnect her home, leaving her exhausted family in limbo. All she has been told is that she is on a list.

You can only live with uncertainty for so long, she says.

On a Leslieville street, the area around 87-year-old Con ONeills home was blocked off by caution tape Friday morning. The power line to his house snaked from a pole across the street and through snow drifts and branches to the mast hanging precariously off his house.

Its been like that since the storm, when tree branches came crashing down around 4 a.m., taking the wire with it.

The rest is here:
Ice storm aftermath: The dark spot in a power-restored neighbourhood