Strong winds on Monday morning saw trees knocked over and broken branches in Kitchener, which lead to nine requests for clean up, city staff say.
Josh Shea, the city manager of forestry and natural areas, told CBC News said while the calls weren’t for extreme damage, they were consistent from 3:30 a.m. onwards.
“We haven’t had this many other wind events this fall,” Shea said. “We have them during summer storms more commonly, but this is the first one this fall or into winter.”
He said that there were no road closures this time around, but there is always potential danger with these types of events.
“Obviously when it’s dark, cars can’t see them on the road,” he said. “So that’s the main concern is to make sure things are safe on the ground and can be addressed.”
There was a rainfall warning in effect Sunday night into Monday morning and Environment Canada reported winds of up to 50 km/h at times overnight and throughout the day Monday. The winds were expected to diminish Monday evening.
There are preventative measures residents can take to ensure they aren’t hindered by falling trees and limbs, Shea said. He noted the city has a proactive maintenance pruning program, which prunes trees throughout their stages of growth to help them withstand heavy winds.
“We’ve been focused on doing that as regularly as we can with the new budget and money in the last couple of years,” Shea said.
