Basil Kelly looked on as London’s maintenance crews hauled a pine tree into a chipper Friday morning, following a harsh storm Thursday afternoon that also knocked out power lines and caused flash flooding.
“It was one of the worst storms I’ve ever seen in my life,” said the Castlegrove Court resident.
He and his wife have lived in the neighbourhood for nearly 50 years.
“It was so dark … everything was dark, you didn’t know what was happening. And the rain … it was just crazy.”
As Kelly and his wife sat inside wondering what the damage would be outside, powerful winds toppled two trees on the boulevard of a nearby home on the corner of Castlegrove Court and Castlegrove Boulevard.
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One was a pine tree. The other, which fell onto the roof of the corner home, was a linden tree, Kelly said.
“They’ve been here since I’ve been here, and I came here in 1972. And they were a good size then.”
Neighbours observed it was lucky the linden tree didn’t cause more damage to the home, which they said is rented out to a group of students. All that was left to see Friday morning was a piece of tarp that covered a small patch of the roof, and the uprooted stump on the boulevard.
According to transportation and roadside operations manager John Parsons, the city received calls about 10 fallen trees, and more reports of fallen branches.
Wonderland Road and Riverside Drive was particularly affected. Parsons said that’s where some larger trees had tipped over.
There was also flash flooding on city roads, particularly around the area of Western University.
Parsons said the cleanup could take a few days but crews were out on Friday night making sure each area was safe and roads were passable.
While the city will tackle trees that have been toppled or damaged on city property, like residential boulevards, it’s up to homeowners to deal with damage in the backyard.
“If it’s a private tree in your backyard, if you’re cleaning those up, you cart those materials off the enviro depots that’ll be open on the weekend,” said Parsons.
As for how two trees were toppled in the same area, Kelly had a theory. He said the city did work on the neighbourhood’s curbs in the spring.
“They cut the roots while they were doing that, because it was interfering with the curbwork,” he explained.
The storm ushered in cooler temperatures over the next few days. Environment Canada forecasts Friday will be mainly sunny with a high of 24 degrees, Saturday is mainly sunny with a high of 25 degrees, and Sunday is sunny with a high of 29 degrees.