SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Powerful winds and heavy rain swept through P.E.I. on Saturday bringing localized flooding, downed trees, and power outages.
An uprooted massive old tree on the corner of Kirk and Autumn Street in Summerside, which now rests on a power line, is a sad sight for the homeowner.
“I didn’t sleep at all last night and was dressed just in case because we have trees surrounding the house, but this morning (Sunday) I took a look around and couldn’t believe the biggest tree was down in our garden,” said Toni Melanson, of 55 King Street.
“I called the city to take care of it, but I will miss the tree because it gave us privacy and took up the whole backyard,” she added while peering out the window at the broken roots splayed out in the air.
Winds reached gusts of 100 km/h along parts of the coast and left more than 3,000 Islanders without power on Sunday morning.
Summerside’s main fire hall, located at 251 Foundry St., was damaged overnight and chunks of debris could be seen scattered in the nearby parking area.“We have roped off the building prohibiting all traffic, but it appears most of the damage is on the south-west side of the building where the wind was at its strongest,” said Summerside Mayor Bill Martin.
He motioned, “It’s a lot more than shingles, as you can see construction, rafters, the underbuilding are gone, so this is going to be a fairly serious structural repair and it will be a priority once the wind dies down.”
Damage to the building that’s 58-years-old brings to light the urgent need for a new main fire hall.
“It’s very fortunate that there was no rain because if there had been the damage would be severely worse,” noted Martin.
Summerside’s Fire Chief Jim Peters said, “I got a call on Saturday at 11 p.m. from the police station to say a portion of the roof had fallen and caused damage.”
Flying debris from the fire hall struck a neighbouring building, including a parked police vehicle.
“There was also a car that got a flat tire because nails are scattered in the area,” continued Peters. “But we will have firefighters on site this afternoon cleaning up the damage, and we’ll probably stay in the building unless we find further deterioration. We also moved fire trucks to the front of the building in case a call comes in.”
East Prince RCMP advises motorists to drive with care. There are reports of trees, branches, and wires down throughout the area.
