Guelph police respond to 80 calls during wind storm

Guelph police say officers received close to 80 calls over a six-hour time span during Friday’s wind storm.

The calls all related to damage from the wind and included assisting Wellington County OPP with closing the Hanlon Parkway between Wellington Street and Stone Road due to dangerous conditions.

Police also thanked the community for their patience and understanding as non-emergency calls for service were significantly backed up.

“These calls can take a significant amount of time,” said Const. Chris Probst. “If there’s a power line that’s down and across the road, we’re going to stay there until it can be taken care of.”

“That was causing a significant delay in non-emergency calls — probably about two hours if you called with a non-emergency issue.”

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During Friday’s storm, police were even asking people to stay in their homes.

Centre Wellington Fire Rescue said a trailer rollover on Highway 6, north of Fergus, was caused by high winds.

Guelph Hydro said 1,600 people were without power at one point on Friday due to downed power lines in the city’s north end.