The ice storm that rained down on Southern Ontario wreaked havoc on roadways across the region, then the ice formation and high winds led to widespread power outages and downed trees across the city and county.
Peterborough Utilities Services have already completed its cleanup and maintenance, in all, there were fewer than 1,000 customers across the city affected by power failure from the storm.
“We dodged a bit of a bullet,” said Peterborough Utilities VP of corporate and customer services David Whitehouse. “I believe we had about 31 incidents where we had mostly branches on the lines and the power outages were for a duration of no more than a couple of hours while we cleaned up the lines.”
Downed trees and branches were also keeping arborists like Dave Hyland busy. He spent most of the day Tuesday cleaning up after the storm.
It’s normal for small twigs and branches to snap under the icy and windy conditions, Hyland says, but if larger branches have come down, then you may have a rotten tree and you might want to have it assessed or cut down.
“Any trees that have some rot in them or are poorly attached are concerns, it’s really all the marginal trees that are suffering,” said Hyland. “The locust trees and the silver maples, they typically don’t do really well during the ice damage.”
If large branches have come down, anywhere from six to eight inches in diameter are cause for concern, he says, and anyone questioning the integrity of a tree you should reach out to an arborist.
For many across the city, the cleanup continues but it appears the wintry blast is over and more seasonal and spring-like weather is expected later this week.
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