Saskatoon cleans-up from first major storm of summer

Saskatoon’s emergency response plan was put to the test on Thursday when a plough wind ripped through the city around supper time.

Director of Emergency Management Pamela Golding-Mcleod commended the work of her team involved in the planning and response to the first significant storm of summer.

“As you were aware, (they) were out all over the city making sure citizens were safe,” Mcleod said.

Seven arborists along with agriculture specialists were dispatched after the storm passed, and were back at it Friday morning.

Golding-Mcleod said the bulk of the damage was to trees and power lines.  She said the priority is clearing the debris from roadways and pathways.

“They’re just logging the debris. They’re really focusing on making sure everything is clear and will do the pickup later.”

Crews are also looking for overhead branches in danger of falling and encourage the public to call the city to have them removed.

The city said its counted 50 downed trees across the city — 20 of which fell onto power lines causing outages in Buena Vista, Queen Elizabeth, Erindale, and the west industrial area.

Power was restored to those areas within 4-and-a-half hours the city said.