Shelter from the Storm

I guess today we all know why now we're the Guelph Storm in OHL hockey. But all kidding aside, did you see that storm last night? Between the recent storms and the heat wave, one wonders how the weather this summer is going play out considering it isn't even technically summer yet.

But back to last night's storm. This morning's Police Blotter said that Guelph Police received over 60 calls concerning storm related damage through the night, and more were still coming in this morning as sunlight brought a better chance to measure the full extent of the damage. 

On her blog, Mayor Karen Farbridge offered a sampling of what City crew were dealing with out there today, and its pretty incredible. Hopefully all you people out there in blog-land have weathered the storm well, and didn't have to deal with too much of this:

• Staff have received approx. 250 storm calls as of approx. 1:00pm today.
• Staff first received calls at ~1:30am, including a report from Guelph Police Services reporting at 300m stretch of Laird Road being blocked by trees
• I can’t confirm how many city trees had been impacted city-wide, but suggest at least one tree per call on average
• I can’t confirm the number of downed trees that will require complete removal at this time, as staff hasn’t had full opportunity to assess
• The damage from this storm was worse than last Saturday’s event, and is the worst storm damage I have seen during my 4 ½ yr. tenure with the City.
• Staff are dealing with trees on houses, cars, and blocking roads and sidewalks—opening our roads was a priority as a matter of access for EMS vehicles.
• A number of hydro lines were down which precluded immediate access by Forestry staff in some instances—Hydro was required to ensure safe access.
• As of 1:00pm, we were aiming to have the last of or our residential roads opened by 3:00pm—-where closed, the local residents had an outlet; however, there was no through traffic.
• As well, staff were assessing our park/trail system for damaged/hazard trees—such trees found/reported have been cordoned-off with safety tape until such time as Forestry staff can address them, i.e., Sunny Acres, Silvercreek, John Gamble and Drummond Park. Forestry staff plan to get into the parks tomorrow, however, soft turf conditions will make for an additional challenge for our heavy equipment to remove the wood debris.
• Staff will be working into the evening and we’re planning for another 12 hour day tomorrow.
• Staff anticipate this latest storm will require 2-3 weeks to fully address the clean-up and this clean-up activity will directly impact our planned activity for forestry service requests.
• We do not provide assistance for damaged private trees, apart from those blocking roads and sidewalks and that homeowners should seek assistance from private forestry contractors who are both ISA certified and fully insured.