HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-05-23, Page 8Page 8 May 23, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
News
Storage sheds are flattened, trees are
downed during severe winds Tuesday evening
From Page 1
he described as "a complete white-
out" of rain when he couldn't see
the hood of the tractor in front of
him. Then, when the tractor started
rocking, he wondered if he should
jump out and head for a ditch and
knew he couldn't have stood up in
the wind.
"I was sitting in my own little cli-
mate -controlled universe but I
almost expected to see a cow fly by,"
he says.
When it all died down, Malone
says he thought the Storey family
had taken refuge in the shed and
headed to the flattened building,
looking through the wreckage for
them but finally found them in the
garage of the house.
"It gave my heart a little jump to
think they might be under that
shed. And, my heart froze when I
didn't get an answer when I called
to them," he says.
"We were worried about him - we
could just imagine him flying
through the air in the tractor. But,
we were all fine," says McCall.
Since Tuesday night, neighbours
flocked to the Storeys helping to
clean up the debris from the storage
shed and the downed trees on the
property.
Garrett Van Dieten and Rob
McKercher had just returned to the
office at the Hensall Co-op's
Seaforth grain elevator when they
noticed the Canadian flag outside
standing straight up in the wind.
"There was a dust cloud all
around, we heard rattling and then
a big crash. And, we saw the tower
land on our vehicles," says
McKercher.
Van Dieten says while the bins at
the elevator are still standing, an I-
beam pulled out of the ground and
swung over the top of the bins,
crashing down through the roof of a
car and a van parked below, right
beside the office.
"It was quite the ordeal. We were
lucky it didn't come down on the
office," says Van Dieten.
Art Bolton lost three 130 year-old
trees along the laneway to his
house on the Winthrop Road.
"There was a big wind and a
tremendous amount of rain. I
wasn't shocked that something hap-
pened but I was shocked the trees
came down. We were lucky we
didn't have any damage to the
buildings," he says.
His son Carl Bolton further down
the road also suffered some storm
damage. He lost trees, the 12x16 -
foot doors to his barn and shed and
the nails on the roof of his barn
were all lifted up.
"The barn roof
was just about
ready to go but
she hung in,"
says Carl.
The doors and
several skids,
however, flew
into the nearby
field and Carl's
wife Val says if
the three trees
that fell behind
the house had
gone in another
direction, they
would have
crashed through
to her dining
room.
Val adds that
she's amazed how
the hostas in her
garden were
twisted and torn
by the wind.
"And, they were
so close to the
ground," she
says.
In Seaforth, the
wind, some of it
in the shape of
whirlwinds or
miniature torna-
does, caused a
few fearful
moments for local
residents.
Phil Duncan, of Artech Signs, was
about to leave the office for the day
when the door blew open and he
looked out to see a tree limb, four
feet long and five inches in diame-
ter, spinning in the air several feet
away.
As he reached to close the door,
the branch shot forward and
slammed into the siding of his
building two feet away, creating a
four inch hole in the wall.
"It shot by me into the wall and it
could have clobbered me pretty
good. My eyes saw a twister with
dust, leaves and branches spinning
in the air - winds don't do that," he
says.
Barb Dalrymple was sitting in the
parking lot at the grocery store
when she saw the black clouds
rolling in and boxes and garbage
started flying past her car.
"It was like being in the movie
Twister. I kept thinking what do I
do, where do I go? I was scared and
wishing I was home in my base-
ment," she says.
Barry Mills, public works coordi-
nator for Huron East, says the town
work crew was busy cleaning up
fallen trees and limbs for two days
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Susan Hundertmark photo
Above, the vehicles of Rob McKercher
and Garrett Van Dieten are pinned under
the I-beam at the Hensall Co-op's
Seaforth grain elevator while at left, Nate
Hoogendoorn and Bob Palin help clear
away trees at Art Bolton's farm.
after the storm.
He says the
worst damage
occurred in
McKillop ward
with five hydro
trucks disentan-
gling trees from
hydro lines along
Beechwood Line
for most of
Wednesday.
"There were a
number of trees
across roads and
some people
helped out the
road crews by
pulling trees off
the road with
their own trac-
tors. Everyone
came together
after the storm in
the spirit of com-
munity," he says.
Mills says the
municipality will
be collecting
storm -related
debris from the
roadside and
chipping it during
this week only.