On Tuesday, September 7, 2021 a severe weather event was experienced with sustained wind speeds of over 100 km/hour in Saugeen Shores.
The town is reporting extensive damage to the Port Elgin Marina, Northshore Park, and private homes in the area. Significant damage was also experienced in the Saugeen Beach Road area near Gobles Grove.
“Saugeen Shores experienced a powerful storm [Tuesday] night that is still being evaluated” said Mayor Luke Charbonneau. “While we sustained significant property damage, we are all thankful that no injuries have been reported. As the community works together to clean up from this event we ask you to use caution when approaching hazards.”
The Town is working to clear roadways and ask that the public stay off closed roads.
All work on municipal streets will be done by Town staff.
"We're still investigating the extent of the damage, but the significant weather event certainly caused more damage than we've seen in a long time," said Community Emergency Management Coordinator Phil Eagleson.
Town staff ask that residents refrain from putting any private debris (waste, branches, broken windows, etc.) on municipal roads and property. Instead, officials are asking residents to take it to the landfill. That is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. All brush from the storm will be accepted free of charge at the landfill until September 25th.
The Town has been in contact with the Province of Ontario and has requested activation of the Disaster Recovery and Assistance Ontario (DRAO) program, and are waiting for an eligibility assessment.
Meanwhile Hydro One crews have worked hard to restore power to thousands, getting the lights back on for the majority of people affected by Tuesday's storms.
However, there are still hundreds in the dark Thursday morning.
Westario Power says they are still working to restore power to about 50 customers in the Lustig Lane and Elgin Street area of Port Elgin. They are working to repair line and pole damage and estimate power will be restored by noon.
In Southampton there are about 200 customers north of the Saugeen River still experiencing power outages. They have to repair a badly damaged line and crews are estimating it may be as late as 3 p.m. Thursday before the lights are back on.
They are also warning people there may be isolated outages affecting a smaller number of customers in both communities as crews make repairs.
Hydro One is reporting 156 customers are without power near Kingsbridge and southeast to Dungannon and Auburn. There are about 400 customers south of Port Elgin are without power. They estimate it will be 4 p.m. before they have everyone back online.
There are still scattered outages in Bruce, Huron, and Wellington Counties. Hydro One says they may also have to wait until 4 p.m. to have power restored.
--with files from Kate Stockmann and Fiona Robertson