Clean up begins after storm rips through Simcoe County

Barrie crews clean up debris and fallen trees after severe storm on Canada Day. PHOTO: CTC NEWS/BARRIE

Clean up crews in Barrie and the surrounding region have begun to clean up downed trees and debris after a severe storm ripped through the area early yesterday evening.

The City of Barrie received dozens of calls for service.

“There are about 30 service requests so far that they’ve completed, and hopefully we can get everything done before it gets too hot today,” said director of operations Dave Friary.

Three crews responded last night and worked until 11 a.m., resuming early this morning.

“They’re out on site, cleaned everything up assisting hydro, if possible,” said Friary.

According to Hydro One, thousands were without power yesterday extending into continued outages on Thursday.

With a heatwave sweeping through the region making conditions hard to work in: the weather is not expected to improve anytime soon.

“The risk of moderate to severe thunderstorms remains for most of the province today So we actually are anticipating additional outages,” said Bianca Pizzo, spokesperson for Hydro One. “We actually have contractors and other utilities who are supporting our restoration where possible and we’re also moving crews from other parts of the province to support the hardest hit areas.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada said the heavy heat and high temperatures could carry into the next week.

“Next week it doesn’t really cool off in it to any significant extent,” said warning preparedness meteorologist Peter Kimbell. “We’ll still have highs of 29, 30, and 31 degrees. So very hot continuing. But we might or we might not be getting a heat warning next week, depending on how humid it is.”

The township of Oro-Medonte has extended its hours for their cooling centre at Simcoe Woods until 9 p.m. Thursday night to accommodate residents who are experiencing power outages.