Cleaning up around the city following Wednesday wind

FirstOnSite Restoration was also there on Wednesday, doing what they could to prevent further damage.

“They showed up just before supper time as the wind started to die down and they worked probably through until 830 at night when it was too dark to be seeing stuff any more,” Dux said. “But I think they realized once they got up there that this is a huge tree, probably 2,000 pounds or more and it was about 50-feet tall so they did cut off the top of it to get some of the weight off the roof but they still have a lot to go.”

Dux is waiting for the tree trunk to come off the roof and for the adjuster to get ahold of her so they can see all the damage that’s been done.

“I’m a little concerned about wetness on the roof but we have to wait until the tree is gone.”

The tree removal isn’t covered by insurance, says Dux, as it’s considered an act of God.

Dux has had offers of help hauling the tree away once it’s safe and the neighbour who owns the tree has been a big help as well.

“They’ve been helping out as much as they can and everybody’s been helping out as much as they can,” she said. “One of the unfortunate things is with contractors on site we can’t have all the people that wanted to help out there because of liability issues.”

She may need help in a day or two removing the cut tree, and the neighbour is looking into what can be done.

No one was home when the tree fell, so the only damage is to the house. Dux realizes it could have been much worse.

“It’s nobody’s fault that the wind came up and between me and my neighbour and any of the neighbours around here none of us would have ever thought that tree would have went because it was in such a sheltered corner.”

City crews were kept busy yesterday with emergencies such as power outages and trees knocked into the roadway.

Jeff Sandford from the Electric Distribution department says they’re still finding damage.

“We still have a tremendous amount of damage that we do need to replace. We had 20 broken poles we had trees take down powerline services, we had debris blown into the lines that had to be cleared,” he said. “So yesterday our goal was essentially to make it safe and get the power back on so we did that and now we’re dealing with the damage and we will be making repairs for at least two weeks.”

He adds they are fortunate we’re still able to keep all the power on so far to customers to make the repairs and thanks for Hatters for their patience.

Dave Genio, acting parks manager, says they currently have seven city trees listed as fallen from the storm and are also still assessing the damage.

“We are mostly concerned with our spruce tree population or coniferous populations in regards to them being perfect wind sails,” he said. “We did see some other damage to our deciduous trees as well but due to not being leafed out we’re in better shape than we would have been mid-June, July with full leaf out on our trees.”

Anyone with concerns about downed trees or tree debris for city-owned trees should report them to the parks department at 403-529-8333 or through the Report a Problem page.

by Chris Brown

Cleaning up around the city following Wednesday wind

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