The aftermath of summer’s first storm in Windsor

Windsor saw lots of damage and power outages over the weekend after a storm blew through. With more, here’s CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco.

It didn’t take long for roads to flood and trees to topple during a storm that ripped through Windsor, leaving thousands without power.

“The storm for us was the first big one this year,” said Peter Jurgeneit, director of hydro operations at Enwin.

The storm blew through the city early Saturday afternoon and left part of a tree on the roof of a Bruce Avenue home.

“The forestry department began to receive service requests almost instantaneously thereafter,” noted James Chacko, executive director of parks with the City of Windsor.

The tree limb was cut down and removed early Monday morning. There were no reports of injuries.

The city said upwards of 200 calls have been fielded by 311 operators since noon on Saturday, with 20 of those being emergency in nature.

Chacko said most of the damage was found north of Tecumseh between Drouillard Road and Prince Road.

“There were a number of what we would deem emergency or high priority that would have seen a large limbs or entire trees come down walking roadways,” Chacko noted.

“Maybe under house, your car, or something. There were a handful of those ones. Those are the ones that we prioritize, we deal with almost immediately, to at least make it safe.”

The city also received 10 flooding calls: Two alleys and eight roads were blocked. So far, no reports of basement flooding.

Enwin reports downed powerlines in the storm’s aftermath with about 7,000 customers losing service. The majority of service was back up within a few hours.

“The focus then was principally in the university area downtown and that’s where a lot of the restoration was focused during the latter part of our efforts,” said Jurgeneit, who ensured all residents were back online by Sunday morning.

Now that the first big storm of the season is behind us, officials with the city and Enwin have safety suggestions.

“If the public sees trees down on lines, keep back from those trees. Stay safe and call it in.” Jurgeneit said.

Chacko encourages people to call the city for services that include damage during or after a storm and tree trimming and planting that could be discussed in the aftermath.

“We always encourage anybody when you have a service request to contact 311”.