Consecutive days of damaging wind in Calgary keep city crews busy

Wind gusts of up to 75 km/h in parts of Calgary are once again keeping city crews and arborists busy.

Wednesday afternoon's blustery conditions come after strong wind on Tuesday downed trees and created power outages for approximately 4,850 customers.

From early Tuesday afternoon until around 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, the city received 115 reports of hazardous wind damage.

There were 93 wind incidents that became electrical hazards, and five lightening strikes, all taking place Tuesday. 

A home in the southwest community of Bayview had one tree uprooted toppling into the backyard of a neighbouring home due to strong winds on Tuesday.

“I was reading and then I heard this crunch like I have never heard before,” said homeowner David Ewart.

Ewart said  the tree toppled around lunchtime on Tuesday, damaging the fence and his neighbour’s privacy wall.

“It missed the house entirely, and I think the worst thing is going to be a patio set, that’s going to go,” said Ewart.

Ewart called Sky High Tree Services to remove the nearly eight metre tall tree.

“I’ve seen it on pictures of natural disasters and that sort of thing, but not this close to home,” he said.

STORM CREATED BUSINESS

Sky High Tree Services owner Wesley Rixon said the wind storm created business for his team.

“It’s definitely unfortunate for the homeowners and the trees but it does keep us going," he said.

"I hate to see trees go, but when they have to come down, they have to come down."

Rixon said the amount of rain the city saw, weakened the strength of the trees.

"Definitely the water in the ground, because trees can withstand the wind pretty well," he said.

"But the moisture in the ground, (with) just how much rain we’ve had is a big factor."

EXCEPTIONALLY BUSY

"Exceptionally busy for the Calgary Fire Department. Crews were running to all sorts of wind-related incidents, many for trees down, hazards on the roads, construction material being blown off of buildings," said Carol Henke, public information officer with the Calgary Fire Department.

"In addition, there were electrical hazards, so when some trees came down, they also took down power lines and damaged electrical boxes, and we also had five lightning strike incidents yesterday.

"We did anticipate that there would be wind-related calls, and as always, we respond as quickly and as safely to all of the emergencies in the city that Calgarians expect us to respond to."

If you see a downed tree on city property, or some heavy debris blocking a roadway, you're asked to report it by calling 311.

People can also take a picture of the downed tree and report it through the 311 app.