Crews busy cleaning up toppled trees after destructive London storm

The sounds of chainsaws can be heard from several backyards in London's Byron neighbourhood as crews clean up toppled trees and broken branches after a powerful thunderstorm rolled through the city Tuesday afternoon.  

City crews and private companies alike say they've been busy travelling from house to house ever since the rain and wind calmed down last night.

"We started yesterday on Westdel Bourne where we had to take down a tree that went down, right through the roof of a house," said Mike Stone from WINMAR Property Restoration Specialists, while working on another tree Wednesday morning. 

"We've got about three more places today, so we'll probably be out until 8 or 9 p.m. tonight." 

Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning early Tuesday afternoon, which ultimately brought winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, torrential rainfall and lightning. The Northern Tornadoes Project told CBC London that the weather event was not a tornado, but caused significant wind damage. 

Thousands of Londoners lost power, and winds uprooted or broke limbs off trees throughout the city. 

"A significantly higher portion of the calls we got...were actually for full trees down. It's kind of an unusual thing about this storm," said Kat Hodgins, the City of London's manager of forestry operations.

City crews started cleaning up last night to ensure that all major roads were open by 10 a.m. today, Hodgins said. The city is prioritizing clearing up trees that have fallen from the roadside onto people's homes, before taking care of sidewalks, parks, trails and golf courses.

"We do ask people to please respect road closures and trail closures," said Hodgins. "We don't do that lightly, so if we have done it, we've done it for a reason and we're trying to keep people safe."

'There was a tree in my house' Londoner says

Most of the tree damage was in Byron, Lambeth and Springbank Park, Hodgins said, adding that storms like Tuesday's can cause even young and healthy trees to topple.

That was the case for Byron homeowner Kirsten Smith, whose backyard pine tree split down the middle during the storm. 

"I remember looking out the window to notice the neighbour's tree had come down, and while I was there, the wind sounds sort of changed," Smith said. "I screamed to my son to go to the basement, thinking it's a tornado, and as I was at the window, the fence at the top of our driveway suddenly disappeared and then there was a tree in my house."

The tree limb has caused a large hole in Smith's roof, some window damage and the softlifts have been ripped down, she said. The storm also caused her fence to crush everything on her driveway, including the garbage cans and her son's hockey net.

Smith's tree was in good condition before the storm, she said, adding that she gets it inspected annually by an arborist. 

Even Stone, who was cleaning up the tree, said he didn't notice anything that showed signs of decay: "This tree that we're taking down is very healthy, very wet, so it just seems like a little too much wind."

Keep trees trimmed

Hodgins said all types of trees can come down during an extreme weather event like Tuesday's, but it's more likely for some species than others due to their structure.

"A lot of conifers are down right now, and evergreen trees mostly because they have a lot more for the wind to push against when we do get a wind event like this," she said.

Stone said it's important to maintain trees to lower the chances of them falling in harsh conditions.

"If you have loose limbs and any dead branches or whatnot, just get those cut down," said Stone. "Anything that helps the wind go through and keeps the tree branches from falling on people is the best thing to do."

Meanwhile, Smith said she will focus on planting smaller fruit trees and shrubbery in her backyard going forward.