TORONTO – Cleaning up fallen branches and repairing the city’s tree canopy after the significant damage endured during last week’s ice storm could take city staff up to two months to finish and upwards of $75 million, according to city officials.
Mayor Rob Ford, councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong and Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly detailed the city’s three phase cleanup program Thursday morning.
“I couldn’t get over the devastation I saw on that Monday day,” Kelly said. “I’m pleased that we handled the hydro challenge very effectively and now we are faced with the tree debris in the aftermath.”
The first phase, which is done, had crews getting fallen branches off of hydro wires.
The second phase starts on Friday and could take up to two months as forestry crews try and remove hanging or partially broken branches from trees across the city.
The third phase, which also starts Friday, will have crews collecting the already fallen debris.
Watch the video below: Downed trees and limbs in Malton and Etobicoke are under quarantine. Laura Zilke reports.
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Homeowners are being asked to place their tree debris on the curb or the boulevard by Thursday, January 2. The city will collect all trees under six inches in diameter but asks all privately-owned trees measuring more than six inches in diameter to be cleared by the homeowner or a private contractor.
City crews cannot go onto private property to clear private trees that have fallen on private property.
Officials say residents that live in the Asian long-horned beetle quarantine area in Etobicoke are being told not take this wood out of the Federal quarantine area. Jim Harnum, general manager of the city’s Solid Waste division reminded residents Thursday that it was a federal offence to remove the trees from the designated quarantine zone.
WATCH: Jim Harnum, General Manager of Solid Waste Management Services for the City of Toronto, talks about the massive operation needed to remove all downed trees and branches in the city
Last week’s ice storm blanketed the city with ice which broke trees and knocked out power to upwards of 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers at the peak of power outages.
“As you know the city has got through one of the worst storms of Toronto’s history,” Ford said Thursday. “As of yesterday, everybody has their power on.”
The city is estimating the cleanup effort will cost close to $75 million but the mayor said he will not increase taxes in order to pay for the storm. Instead he wants the city’s departments to find “efficiencies.”
The cleanup effort will be led by Minnan-Wong who chairs the city’s Public Works Committee. Close to 600 city employees will be part of the cleanup and will be working 12 hours a day, seven days a week until it’s completed, Minnan-Wong said.
EXTENDED: Toronto officials discuss the plan to clean up the extensive debris left from the ice storm
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