Weather

District residents seldom see and feel the effects of high winds and tornados. That changed Tuesday.
From Morson, to Nestor Falls, through Clearwater and Devlin on past Fort Frances, winds have disrupted the lives of residents. The winds were particularly severe in Morson where houseboats were tossed and flipped like kites in the wind. In other areas, winds toppled trees as if they were match sticks.
Power outages, washed out highways and roads, downed hydro lines, had emergency crews and response teams out in the foulest of weather.
We often forget that those individuals are asked to leave the security and comfort of their homes to restore the same security to other residents. Working around the clock, road crews are rushing to fill in washed out roads, while neighbours are lending hands to neighbours to remove toppled trees from homes and private roads.
Hydro One crews have spread out across the district to restore power to businesses and residents. It is to their credit that by Tuesday evening over half of the rural outages had power restored.
Hyrdo One in their response has flown in crews Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay joing local Hydro One crews and local Public Utilities crews to speed up rebuilding of the power grids downed by fierce winds.
Emergency municipal crews responded throughout the night to floodings, blown down trees. OPP officers spread out across the district providing highway information at junctions of highways and checking on rural back roads.
We cannot control weather, but it is comforting to know that people are always alert and ready to respond in emergencies.