Property owners in Orr lake, north of Barrie, are well into the clean up process Thursday after two days of a lot of rain and strong winds. “It was very windy and there was lightening that went bang, bang, bang, bang and then all of the sudden boom, bang, we felt the impact,” says Gord Livey, outside his Orr Lake home. A giant tree crashed inches from Livey’s home yesterday - but took out a patio area. Buzzing chain saws could be heard non-stop as people began what will be a tedious clean up process. Clean up includes fallen trees, in some cases crushing boat houses and boats being flipped about in the water and destroyed. Just ask Orr Lake resident Jennifer and Cam Hunter who lost a boat in the storm. “It’s basically chainsaw work cutting up the trees. Getting rid of the branches, replacing the railing on the boat house. Getting rid of our trashed boat,” says Jennifer Hunter. The Northern Tornadoes Project team from the university of Western, Ontario says it believes the damage was caused by a downburst and not a tornado. However, it says downburst winds crossing open water can result in enhanced damage at the shoreline. The township of Springwater is asking the county to suspend tipping fees at the landfill for residents cleaning up. “It’s some relief and some support for residents that are going to have to unfortunately absorb the costs that are associated with these damages” says Matt Garwood, the ward one councillor in the Township of Springwater. Tree removal companies say they prioritized homes where access was blocked off. “In some cases there are eight to ten trees across driveways, so basically what we were able to do is give them access to their house or to get out and then we’ll do the rest of the clean up later” says Mark Mederak, owner of Tarzan Tree Removal. The clean up it self is expected to take at least the next several days. The best advise for property owners is if you need to hire someone to remove fallen trees, make sure they have insurance.
