Sports Dome Taken Down by Ice Storm

 THE ICE STORM CAUSED POWER OUTAGES ACROSS THE CITY.  Short CKWS video

The weekend before Christmas Day (21 to 23 Dec) saw a major storm system sweep through southern & eastern Ontario. The ice storm system travelled along the Hwy. 401 corridor coated much of the local Kingston area in a thick crust of ice.

The precipitation made driving dangerous, felled trees, power lines and was the cause of the sports dome located near the Constantine Arena to become deflated. (See the before & after photos above)

We contacted Darren Cates, Director of Athletics on Thursday – 2 Jan in regards to the consequences of this unfortunate event.

“The plan as far as I know it is that the projected availability date is 11 January 2014 with more info to follow next week. Base Construction Engineering Officer has the lead on this and we are being provided with updates from them.”

He went on to mention the anticipated impact to the college PE program. “All bookings for the 06-10 January 2014 have been cancelled so this affects our Phys Ed classes and varsity practices. Intramurals don’t start till 21 Jan so hopefully it won’t affect them. I am sure there will be some work to do on the inside once they get it back standing upright. We are developing alternate plans for the PE classes and will do the same if IM’s are affected. We obviously won’t be able to deliver our programs in the same way so it has a big impact.”

Darren also added: “I feel so badly (and appreciative) for all of the people out there working in this cold trying to get it back up.”