Burst pipes and a destroyed furnace, water heater.

S.M. from Seaton Village had a catastrophe in her house because of the blackout. She told the Parkdale Library Blackout Meeting about it, ending with: "can you tell me who I can sue?" The Hydro representatives told her she should go through her insurance. They didn't say more, but they listened -- they looked like hearing S.M.'s story may have made Hydro's mistake hit a lot closer to home for them.

that's what a burst pipe looks like

kitchen wall damaged

S.M.'s story:

I live in a 115 year old frame "cottage" in Seaton Village. I say cottage because I don't have a basement, just a crawl space. Basically, my story is that when power was restored my (new high efficiency) furnace didn't turn on. On Saturday, by the time a repairman arrived my house had been without heat for almost 48 hours during the coldest nights of the year. He soon discovered that the furnace was completely frozen internally and could not be saved.

Late Saturday about 30 minutes before the heating contractor arrived to install a new furnace, I heard a large bang, I went downstairs to find water pouring into my kitchen from overhead burst pipes. Because the house was -5C inside, the water froze and turned my kitchen floor into a skating rink. It was the next day when the plumber arrived that we discovered the extent of the problem. As the house warmed up and water (left in the pipes) started to flow again we found approximately 20 burst pipes over the course of 2 days while the plumber was here. We also found that my new tankless water heater was destroyed in the process as well. I have now been without hot water for more than a week and only now able to start the cleanup. The estimated damage is going to be somewhere between $20-30,000 and will not be restored for a couple of months.