The number of 311 Service cleanup calls made in the wake of Toronto's crippling ice storm last month exceeded 8,000, with many of the calls originating from areas outside of Scarborough, the seemingly worst-hit area.

311 Service call logs obtained exclusively by CTV Toronto show ice storm cleanup service calls made to the city between Dec. 21, 2013 and Jan. 15, 2014 ranked the highest among all service calls, hitting the 8,400 mark. By comparison, calls made during that same period regarding potholes came in at No. 4, with 1,386 calls.

The majority of those calls stemmed from areas outside of Scarborough, which appeared to be the hardest hit.

In the affluent Willowdale neighbourhood, between Finch Avenue East and Sheppard Avenue West; and Bayview Avenue and Senlac Road, storm cleanup service calls topped the list at 258. By comparison, in Scarborough, between Finch Avenue East and Birchmount Road, only two storm cleanup service calls were made.

Storm cleanup service calls by area between Dec. 21, 2013 and Jan. 15, 2014:

  • 254 calls: North York, between Bathurst and Yonge streets; and Highway 401 and Lawrence Avenue West
  • 206: In the Moore Park neighbourhood, west of Bayview Avenue, east of Don Mills Road; and south of Eglinton Avenue East and north of the Don Valley Parkway
  • 198: Between O'Connor Drive and Danforth Avenue; and Coxwell and Victoria Park Avenues.

At the height of the storm last month, about 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers were left in the dark. The outages took more than a week to fully restore power to most residents in the GTA, costing Toronto Hydro an estimated $12.9 million.

Caller activity related to storm cleanup service calls peaked in the immediate wake of the ice storm on Dec. 23, 2013. More than 2,000 storm cleanup service calls were made that day.

Not all calls made in the aftermath of the ice storm were cleanup-related, however. One service call that originated from the Liberty Village neighbourhood concerned bees and wasps. Another call that came from the Rexdale area had to do with a transfer station odour complaint. And two calls were made regarding graffiti on litter bins.