Damage from a storm which hammered Midland with strong winds and rain Wednesday afternoon was limited mostly to trees, with most affected roads reopening late last night.
The municipality's operations manager, Josh Fuller, told MidlandToday the town was swift to respond.
“Regarding the system that came through at approximately 4:25 yesterday afternoon, we had six trees that had come down in total – two of them which were located on Hugel Avenue, one at Dominion and Manly, and then we also had three additional in Little Lake Park that came down," said Fuller.
Mobilizing at 4:30 p.m., Fuller said the town worked hard to reopen Hugel Avenue as the tree which had fallen just west of Woodland Drive was blocking 80 per cent of the road. They were successful and the blockage was cleared before 9 p.m. with town workers out again early this morning to continue ongoing efforts.
Fuller said one tree in Little Lake Park had “crossed into private property” which the town was investigating.
Additionally, one of the trees affected in the park was located near the construction area for ampitheatre seating at the Rotary bandstand.
“We did have one tree located just behind the new seating that we're having installed in Little Lake Park that (uprooted),” said Fuller. “So we've been able to secure that area as well, and we'll hope to finish that up early next week.”
He added that crews are aiming to have the remaining trunks of affected trees removed at that time.
Members of town staff held a meeting today at noon to figure out what the best course of action was.
“We do have staff checking the locations as a service request comes in and we've put a strategic plan together to prioritize where we're going next,” Fuller explained.
He emphasized that Midland residents affected by the storm should submit a service request through the town’s online customer portal, or to call or email customer service at the municipal office.
“Our biggest thing is that we want to be able to be on top of things," said Fuller.
“I encourage the community to let us know if there's any trees down or anything that they see might not be fit; we need to rectify those issues.”