‘The boys wrestled it to the end like an Amazon anaconda’: Willow tree root causes problems in Osoyoos

It was a surprising find for an Osoyoos man who noticed a storm drain was backing up.

A willow tree root had grown into the drain at Village on the Lake, causing it to flood over.

Grant McCulloch called his plumbers after noticing a problem.

“I was thinking it was a sand pileup or dead animal or something,” he said.

But after they started pulling, it became clear that the problem was a willow tree root.

“It just kept coming and coming and coming, one inch at a time. It was a struggle,” McCulloch said. “We thought how long can it be?”

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It turned out the root was about 12 metres or 40-feet long. McCulloch said it took him and two plumbers about two hours to pull the root out.

“It was a crowbar, six hands and every muscle you had.”

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“The boys wrestled it to the end like an Amazon anaconda,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

McCulloch believes the willow tree is about 100 years old. “They’re huge.”