Strong winds have been battering London, causing downed tree limbs, hydro outages, and a road closure.
Environment Canada's prediction of wind gusts of over 90km/h came true on Wednesday. The winds caused shingles from the roof of the Call The Office building to rain down on York St. and Clarence St., forcing police to restrict traffic in that area.
Tree limbs in parts of the city were also brought down.
Tree-2 Cars-0 #oevldn #ldnont pic.twitter.com/BwRwI3s8My
— Dave Cook (@CulinaryTramp) March 8, 2017
Interesting day while studying, tree snapped in half! #windycity #ldnont pic.twitter.com/60TQ5ORfGB— Shelby Witiw (@ShelbyWitiw) March 8, 2017
For pedestrians, walking became dangerous as trash cans, recycling bins, and other debris was whipped up by the strong winds.
A traffic light at Clarke Rd. and Huron St. was knocked off of its pole, while lights at Oxford St. and Richmond St. and Springbank Dr. and Berkshire Dr. were left dangling.
Power outages knocked out countless traffic lights across the city, particularly on Veteran's Memorial Parkway during the afternoon commute. Motorists are reminded to treat those intersections as four-way stops until power is restored.
The winds forced the closure of Boler Mountain for the evening with officials stating they were putting "safety first." Meanwhile, the Masonville Loblaws also closed down after gusts damaged part of the grocery store's facade.
Areas outside of London were also affected. Hydro One reported outages for thousands of customers west of London, while the OPP had to close the westbound lanes of Hwy. 401 at Victoria Rd. in Chatham-Kent after a downed hydro pole caused the lines to hang too low over the highway.
A vehicle was also crushed by a falling sign at the Blazin BBQ Ribhouse plaza in Chatham.
In Woodstock, firefighters battled a vehicle fire on Athlone Ave. caused by downed hydro pole with live wires. In a separate incident, a motorist suffered minor injuries when their vehicle was blown onto its side.
An OPP dive team in Port Stanley had trouble searching the waters of the harbour where a vehicle was reported to have gone in on Tuesday night. The wind churned up sediment within the harbour making the waters murky.
Environment Canada says the winds should ease Wednesday evening.
