Power restored to all but 200 homes after Red Deer windstorm

Power has been restored to all but 200 homes in Red Deer, three days aftera windstorm pummeled the city with winds of up to 112 km/h.

Tuesday's stormdowned 15 power lines, damaged 40 power poles and caused widespread damage throughout the city.

In the immediate aftermath, 35 per cent of homes were without power. On Thursday, officials workedto restore power in three major areas theVanier, Glendale andNormandeauneighbourhoods. By about 7 a.m. Friday power had been restored in all three areas.

The 200 homes and businesses still without powerare spread throughout the community.City officials hopeto restore power to those locations over the next 48 hours.

Mayor Tara Veer said the storm caused the most complex and widespread power outage in the city since 1986.

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Veer said the local state of emergency will remain in effect until power is restored to remaining homes and businesses.

Long-term cleanup into the fall

Clearing trails and parks, Veer said, could to take "at least five weeks," with long-term cleanup expected to last into the fall.

Craig Curtis, the city's emergency operations director, said crews will work to clear trails over the next couple of weeks.

"Please remain off trails until we've deemed them safe," Curtis said.

Weekend eventswill continue as planned, he said.

Crews from the City of Edmonton, including the city's seniorarborist, are in Red Deer to help clean up and assess the damage.

Arboristsfrom both Edmonton and Red Deer will go around the city to determine if additional trees damaged by the windstorm need to be taken down.

Past disasters prepared the city

Since many staff had past experiences with wildfires and floods, Curtis said the city's emergency response teams were able to respond quickly and effectively.

"There's nothing better than on-site training, even though it's in unfortunate circumstances," he said.

Karen Mann with the city's emergency response team said that experience directly affected the emergency preparedness plans.

"It's something we've built into our emergency response here," she said. "The worst thing you could do is not learn as these things occur."

Curtis said city officials will collecttrees and branches free of charge, and the landfill will be open on the next two Sundays so residents can dispose ofperishable food and other garbage.

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