Trees weakened by wind may still pose a threat: city

As the wind died down, cleanup from Tuesday night’s wind storm got underway in Saskatoon.

Aside from a few downed power lines, a handful of toppled trees and an assortment of boughs and branches left strewn about, there was a limited amount of damage Wednesday morning.

“Overall, I think Saskatoon fared very well,” said Deb Davies, the city’s acting director of emergency measures.

Power was knocked out to roughly 4,100 Saskatoon Light and Power customers during Tuesday night’s wind storm. The majority of those homes had power quickly restored.

According to the city, the remaining customers without power should be reconnected by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The city warned that trees weakened by the storm, but not showing any obvious signs of damage, may still pose a risk.

“Make sure you’re calling those situations in. Stay away from those trees or anything that may look unstable,” Davies said.

In the Westmount neighbourhood, a large pine tree fell onto the roof of a home on Avenue L North, but not until the worse of the storm had already passed.

“I heard a snap at around 1:30 in the morning, woke me up,” said homeowner George Bitz. “But I didn’t  notice any damage at the time. I think that’s when the tree cracked.”

The tree eventually came down at around 10 a.m. Wednesday.

There were no injuries reported due to the winds.