Cleanup continues after a storm packing strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc on Sarnia-Lambton Wednesday night.
Environment Canada recorded a wind gust of 93 km/h at Sarnia's Chris Hadfield Airport at 7 p.m. and rainfall totals of 92 millimeters (3.6 inches) in Sarnia and 152 millimeters (6 inches) in Petrolia.
Sarnia's Emergency Management Coordinator Ron Realesmith said extensive tree damage is reported across the city.
"There's 65 work orders in, two dozen of those are a priority," said Realesmith. "Those are work orders for trees, large items that are currently on roadways that are obstructing traffic."
Realesmith said area contractors are busy too.
"We haven't brought any contractors in, as all contractors in the city are working hard, just as our staff are. There was no particular area that was worse off than the other. The whole city has been heavily impacted by this storm."
Residents are asked to be patient as the forestry team works to clean up and motorists are asked to drive safely, as a number of trees and large branches are still blocking roads and sidewalks.
The City of Sarnia has added a brush and yard waste collection next week, September 27 - October 1, on residents’ regular collection day.
Residents who still have concerns are encouraged to call the city, and not the police.
Realesmith said late Thursday morning that there had been no reports from the public of major damage to the shoreline and he wasn't aware of any damage reported at the marina.
Sarnia's Seaway Kiwanis Children's Animal Farm is closed as damage is cleaned up there.
Bluewater Power CEO Janice McMichael-Dennis said it was quite an event that started in the afternoon and got worse around dinner time.
"It was call after call, it was mostly winds taking down trees which were falling on power lines, or very large limbs falling on power lines," said McMichael-Dennis. "We also had a couple poles down, some live wires down, so it was an incredibly busy evening. At one point we had approximately 10,000 customers without power, which if you think about it is almost one in every three of the customers we serve."
McMichael-Dennis said power was completely restored by 4 a.m. and the total cost of damage was still being calculated.
Hydro One crews were still making repairs Thursday and the utility had hoped to have electricity restored to all of its local customers by 6 p.m.
