Crews busy cleaning up toppled trees after destructive London storm

Kendra Seguin · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 6:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The sounds of chainsaws tin beryllium heard from respective backyards successful London's Byron neighbourhood arsenic crews cleanable up toppled trees and breached branches aft a almighty thunderstorm rolled done the metropolis Tuesday afternoon.  

City crews and backstage companies alike accidental they've been engaged travelling from location to location ever since the rainfall and upwind calmed down past night.

"We started yesterday connected Westdel Bourne wherever we had to instrumentality down a histrion that went down, close done the extortion of a house," said Mike Stone from WINMAR Property Restoration Specialists, portion moving connected different histrion Wednesday morning. 

"We've got astir 3 much places today, truthful we'll astir apt beryllium retired until 8 oregon 9 p.m. tonight." 

Environment Canada issued a terrible thunderstorm informing aboriginal Tuesday afternoon, which yet brought winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, torrential rainfall and lightning. The Northern Tornadoes Project told CBC London that the upwind lawsuit was not a tornado, but caused important upwind damage. 

Thousands of Londoners mislaid power, and winds uprooted oregon broke limbs disconnected trees passim the city. 

"A importantly higher information of the calls we got...were really for afloat trees down. It's benignant of an antithetic happening astir this storm," said Kat Hodgins, the City of London's manager of forestry operations.

City crews started cleaning up past nighttime to ensure that each large roads were unfastened by 10 a.m. today, Hodgins said. The metropolis is prioritizing clearing up trees that person fallen from the roadside onto people's homes, earlier taking attraction of sidewalks, parks, trails and play courses.

"We bash inquire radical to delight respect roadworthy closures and way closures," said Hodgins. "We don't bash that lightly, truthful if we person done it, we've done it for a crushed and we're trying to support radical safe."

'There was a histrion successful my house' Londoner says

Most of the histrion harm was successful Byron, Lambeth and Springbank Park, Hodgins said, adding that storms similar Tuesday's tin origin adjacent young and steadfast trees to topple.

That was the lawsuit for Byron homeowner Kirsten Smith, whose backyard conifer histrion divided down the mediate during the storm. 

"I retrieve looking retired the model to announcement the neighbour's histrion had travel down, and portion I was there, the upwind sounds benignant of changed," Smith said. "I screamed to my lad to spell to the basement, reasoning it's a tornado, and arsenic I was astatine the window, the obstruction astatine the apical of our driveway abruptly disappeared and past determination was a histrion successful my house."

The histrion limb has caused a ample spread successful Smith's roof, immoderate model harm and the softlifts person been ripped down, she said. The tempest besides caused her obstruction to crush everything connected her driveway, including the garbage cans and her son's hockey net.

Smith's histrion was successful bully information earlier the storm, she said, adding that she gets it inspected annually by an arborist. 

Even Stone, who was cleaning up the tree, said helium didn't announcement thing that showed signs of decay: "This histrion that we're taking down is precise healthy, precise wet, truthful it conscionable seems similar a small excessively overmuch wind."

Keep trees trimmed

Hodgins said all types of trees tin travel down during an utmost upwind lawsuit similar Tuesday's, but it's much apt for immoderate taxon than others owed to their structure.

"A batch of conifers are down close now, and evergreen trees mostly due to the fact that they person a batch much for the upwind to propulsion against erstwhile we bash get a upwind lawsuit similar this," she said.

Stone said it's important to support trees to little the chances of them falling successful harsh conditions.

"If you person escaped limbs and immoderate dormant branches oregon whatnot, conscionable get those chopped down," said Stone. "Anything that helps the upwind spell done and keeps the histrion branches from falling connected radical is the champion happening to do."

Meanwhile, Smith said she volition absorption connected planting smaller effect trees and shrubbery successful her backyard going forward.