The howling winds that rolled into the region on Monday night have been more than an a minor inconvenience for St. Albert residents.
Angela Dorval and her husband came home from a movie on Monday night and found a massive tree had split and fallen on their fence and roof while they were away.
The couple decided to go to a movie after her son’s baseball was cancelled due to the whipping winds. The parents left their kids with a babysitter but Dorval had a bad feeling about the weather.
“When we came home we were both a little bit shocked. We were lucky because it avoided doing any damage but it could have,” Dorval said.
“If it had fallen in a different way it could have fallen through our windows.”
Dorval was not the only resident with her eye on the sky over the past couple days.
Damage from the wind is being reported across the city with residents left cleaning up their backyards after trees have toppled and items from their yards have been blown through the neighbourhoods.
A large tree in front of the St. Albert Community League building toppled in the winds, narrowly missing the building and the St. Albert Christmas tree.
One resident reported seeing a port-a-potty blown into a tree while another had their gazebo cover ripped by the whipping winds. Some residents reported their shingles sailing through the air or eavestroughs suffering damage from the wild weather.
The wind picked up in the region on Monday night and was gusting up to 90 Km per hour by Tuesday morning.
Other residents didn't see any damage to their homes, but suffered from wind headaches. Marijke Smit Dootson said that every time the wind picks up or the pressure changes she suffers from a migraine and this wind storm was no exception.
Mark Fraser, a local bicycle commuter, said that the winds can be dangerous for cyclists. Fraser leads a cycling group and had to cancel on Monday night to keep the cyclists safe from the weather. Fraser, who commutes from St. Albert to Edmonton every day for work on his bike, said it is important for cyclists to keep an eye out for flying debris while on their bikes and to stay away from heavily treed areas.
Other events across the city were cancelled on Monday night including many outdoor sports.
Louise Stewart, manager of parks and open spaces for the city of St. Albert said that the city had received around 70 calls from residents reporting downed trees and branches in the community.
“It’s not unusual. It’s not particularly high. A lot of it is mainly broken branches. I haven’t seen a lot of full out removals,” Stewart said.
The city typically has a few wind storms per year, Stewart noted, and usually one big storm rolls in during the month of May. This year the city was lucky and mother nature spared St. Albert until June.
So far there have been 70 calls, but Stewart suspects more may come in through the coming days as residents get out in the community to survey the damage.
City parks staff will be working overtime until then to ensure emergency lanes are clear and trees and branches are tidied up.
“It will take crews a few days to get around to all the calls and all the sites but they are out right now getting rid of all the hazards,” Stewart said.
“People will still see debris on the ground for the next few days.”
Stewart warned the public to be careful of overhead hazards when the wind speeds pick up and use caution when moving into heavily treed areas.
Any residents who want to report fallen trees and branches to the city can call public works at 780-459-1557.
