Edmonton city crews busy cleaning up after Wednesday's storm
City crews have their arms full of limbs as they try to clean up hundreds of downed trees following Wednesday's storm.
Crispen Wood, urban forestry management supervisor with the city, said an estimated 900 to 1,000 trees are affected.
"So, we're expecting this is going to take several days," he said.
The city has received more than 1,000 calls about trees in the last 24 hours.
"We had 800 calls in three hours," Wood said, noting the bulk of those came in between 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday. "Since then we've been receiving calls pretty well non-stop over the evening and throughout the day."
One tree in particular caused some traffic snarls.
"We did have a tree uproot and fall over the north entrance to the High Level Bridge yesterday around 4 p.m., which did cause some traffic congestion," said Wood. "We were able to get a crew there very quickly, fortunately, and work with EPS (Edmonton Police Service) to get that tree off the road and get the bridge rolling again."
As for river valley pathways, only one remained closed as of Thursday afternoon, between the Kinnaird Ravine and the Capilano footbridge.
"We're going to need added assistance to get that cleaned out," said Juanita Spence, supervisor for river valley parks and facilities.
Spence warned there may be additional closures as crews try to complete their work but they will be posted on the city's website.
Damage costs not known
The cost of damage and for the clean-up aren't yet known.
Wednesday's storm packed winds of more than 70 km/h, according information from Environment Canada .
Between noon Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, about 22,000 customers were without power at some point.
Tim le Riche, a spokesperson for EPCOR, said power had been restored to the vast majority of them, but more than 100 small lines were down in various locations throughout the city.
The Edmonton fire department worked with the power company throughout the day Wednesday responding to lines that had blown down in the wind or were tangled in nearby trees.
In a typical day, the fire department receives about 120 calls, said city spokesperson Maya Filopovic. On Wednesday, there were 343 calls. Fire crews also helped with roof collapses and with small structures that had been battered apart or blown away.
Filopovic cautioned people to stay out of the river valley — and especially off low-lying trails — as the North Saskatchewan River is higher than normal because of the rain.
