Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Heavy Winds Cause Damage to the GTA

Description

Toronto was the Windy City on January 9, 2008 that didn’t stop pedestrians from huddling in their coats and garbage flying everywhere. However, we do see these events from time to time during the winter season. The high winds didn’t stop there. A car was crushed by a falling tree on Markham St., and an LRT fire broke out about 250 yards from McCowan Station during rush-hour. At Buttonville Airport, the wind was so strong it flipped a light aircraft. The provincial high was a blustery 133 km/h in Point Petrie, just south of Belleville. According to Geoff Coulson a meteorologist said “the intense cold front this morning, coupled with more cool air that came in behind it, generated the unusually high winds that caused problems across Toronto”. Winds recorded at Pearson Airport hit a high of 107 km/h this morning and a few clicks shy of the 115 km/h mark forcing the delay of about 20 flights. Pearson Airport was forced to shut down some runways to keep planes out of strong winds, causing delay. Toronto Hydro reported that at 20 power lines were down, and about two or three thousand homes lost hydro as a result of the wind knocking down trees. “Extra crews were called in and they were working around the clock,” said Toronto Hydro’s Denise Attallah. “Our number one priority is to restore power to our customers.”

Geographies

Space, strong gusts flip over light planes causing delay of about 20 flights. Winds knocking down tress causing lose of hydro.

Place, Pearson Airport, Buttonville Airport, Belleville Airport and throughout the GTA

Scale, Ranges from residential effects to global. Lose of power, locally and cancellation of overseas flights.


The Toronto Sun

Nancy Leoni

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