Storm cleanup continues in Waterloo region
Power has now been fully restored in Waterloo region after a long weekend storm that was anything but normal.
The last hydro hookups were completed Tuesday afternoon, but the cleanup will continue for a few more days.
At the peak of the damage, Kitchener Wilmot Hydro says one-fifth of its customers lost power, that’s roughly 21,000 homes. As of Tuesday morning, about 50 customers just west of Victoria Park were still in the dark.
The power outage also forced Kitchener’s largest secondary school, St. Mary’s High School, to close Tuesday.
WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK
Arborists and roofers have also been busy.
“We’ve been working like crazy and the problem is you just don’t know when to stop. We’ve been working till 10, 11 o’clock at night,” said arborist Joe Legat. “I haven’t seen my family in three days and I’m sleeping in the same house as them.”
Legate said he received over 100 calls in the last two days and is triaging the calls according to damage.
He advises homeowners take a look around their properties and be extra careful as cleanup continues.
One local roofing company said they've also received over 100 calls and that some of the damage they’ve seen caught them by surprise.
“Our reaction is like ‘wow,’” said Sam Qadami with Brother’s Roofing, referencing a building behind him. “As soon as we got here me and my brother were like ‘oh my goodness, this is mad, this is crazy.’
"We have a couple crews out, emergency crews, and then we had to come out and do some repairs because we're just getting too many calls."
The City of Cambridge had to call in workers during the long weekend to deal with the aftermath of the storm.
“It was a little tougher to get some people out than usual,” said Mike Hausser, director of operations for the City of Cambridge. “But we had a really strong core team that came out with 12 staff responding yesterday so that was terrific.”
WHAT DO I DO NOW?
Some roofing companies estimate it could take weeks to get through all the repairs, with costs ranging from a few hundreds of dollars up to thousands.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada tells CTV News Kitchener there's no need for homeowners to panic.
"Wind is typically covered under home insurance, tenant insurance, and condo insurance policies," said Anne Marie Thomas of the bureau.
Thomas reminds residents to keep repair receipts, as insurance companies usually reimburse people for damage caused by extreme wind, flying debris, or fallen trees.
"They may have preferred companies that they deal with and can connect you with them," said Thomas. "Others may say find an arborist, find us a roofer and send us the bill."
STAYING OPTIMISTIC
Meanwhile one Kitchener resident who lost power for three days and had several large branches land on his shed and take out part of his chimney is staying optimistic.
“We spent the last three nights at the neighbours across the street who had power and kind of had to discover life before the Internet a bit, which is probably the upside of all this,” he said. “[It was] kind of fun to just sit around and talk to people instead of spending a night watching movies like we’ve been doing the whole pandemic.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.