New Westminster Record September 2 2015

Page 1

NEWS 9

Libs promise funds NEWS 10

A taxing project

COMMUNITY 11

Ring of love recovered WEDNESDAY SEPT. 2, 2015

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LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS

Y O U R

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THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND SEE PAGE 13

N E W S P A P E R

Blown away NewWestminster trees tumbled during windstorm – city expects it will take at least a week to clean up the mess Theresa McManus

tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca

Mother Nature huffed and puffed and blew debris all over the Royal City during Saturday’s wind storm – but it could have been much worse. The city’s engineering operations and parks crews are busy dealing with debris across the city in the aftermath of Saturday’s storm. Heavy winds in Metro Vancouver left many streets littered with leaves, branches and fallen trees. “We didn’t have any real big issues here – we had lots of trees down, lots of people out there working. I think we had to bring in two extra people to help out,” said Jon McDonald, the city’s manager of electrical operations. “Our Queensborough power didn’t go out, so we didn’t have any sewage pump station issues.That was a really good thing.The whole Queensborough area is dependent on sewer pump stations. If the power goes out, so do they.” City crews spent the weekend clearing debris from roads and sidewalks, as well as making sure drains were clear of leaves. “We were really fortunate it happened the way it did and we didn’t get the rain that they forecast. But now we have to clean up because they are still forecasting rain.We have to make sure those drains are clear. It is a real issue for us,” McDonald said. “If people see the drains in front of their home are covered in leaves, scrape the leaves off them.That’s just generally the case. Don’t let yourself flood.” During the storm, the city had to close a few roads because of fallen trees and debris. “Our guys worked hard and they got things cleared up so at least the city was driveable,” McDonald said. “You don’t even hear about New Westminster on the

WINDSWEPT: A tree fell on top of a car on Quayside Drive during this weekend’s windstorm. At right, Tigger the dog struggles during the windstorm. Roughly a quarter of New Westminster homes were without power at one point on Saturday. PHOTOS JENNIFER GAUTHIER

news.” City crews temporarily store debris collected around the city in the old tennis courts at Queen’s Park. “It’s going to be probably a week of cleanup,” McDonald said. “There is debris all over, especially in the Queen’s Park area, there are tree branches. It is just a mess.” Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks, culture and recreation, said parks staff are still assessing the damage from Saturday’s storm, as their initial focus was responding to issues in the city. “My impressions are we had some areas Continued on page 3

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