Wind storm brings down trees and power lines, damages cars
Winds reach up to 75 km/h in Toronto
Streets were closed and hydro crews sent out to neighbourhoods across Toronto after gusting winds knocked down trees, bringing down power lines and denting cars yesterday afternoon and evening.
Fallen trees and branches were reported in many communities as the city was hit by winds up to 75 kilometres per hour, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Among the incidents, in the Upper Beaches a tree fell across a parked car, blocked the street — and moved a home of sorts.
Police reported shortly after 7 p.m. the falling tree had brought down hydro lines on Bingham Avenue, south of and Gerrard Street East, and they closed the street to traffic.
By today some of the smaller branches had been removed to allow one lane of traffic to get by, though the main branch of the tree still lay across the hood of the car.
And on that part of the tree could be seen baby squirrels scampering around, ducking in and out of a hole in the branch that had presumably been their home before the accident.
Other reports of falling trees, branches and power lines have come in on social media from Beaches, Leslieville, Riverdale, East York, Leaside, North Leaside, Don Mills and North Toronto.
Toronto Hydro reported its crews were respond to multiple outages across the city as a result of high winds and falling trees.
“We have all hands on deck and crews are making progress. Unfortunately, estimated times of restoration (ETRs) are not available at this time,” they said at 7:16 p.m.
We’re currently experiencing multiple outages across the city due to high winds. We’re responding as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you for your patience.
— Toronto Hydro (@TorontoHydro) April 30, 2021
#PowerOutage, Three Hours In, East End, #Toronto pic.twitter.com/qhm74xoqPy
— Don Curren (@dbcurren) May 1, 2021
On Thursday, Environment Canada had issued a special weather statement advisory or April 30.
“Strong northwesterly winds gusting up to 70 to 80 km/h are forecast to develop Friday morning or near noon across the area,” Environment Canada said. “These strong winds will continue into Friday evening before easing.”
They warned of, among other problems, breaking tree branches and isolated power outages.
The agency’s reports on April 30 showed the height of the windstorm in late afternoon and early evening, with wind speeds ranged up to 56 km/h and gusts reaching 75 km/h.
Note: This story has been revised since its original publication to add information and images from Riverdale-East York.
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