By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON October 30, 2012 We made it through the storm of the century. Our friends to the south took huge hits but while Burlington had the reported highest win speed – 97 KMH – there was no serious damage and no one was hurt. General Manager Scott Stewart reports that: We had about 21 fair size tree and limb damage over the evening hours, the crews worked through the evening and morning hours cleaning up debris and opening roads where necessary.
The majority of the calls were from areas south of the QEW.
The hollowed trunk of an old willow brought down by the storm of the century. The wonder was what kept the tree up at all – and what about the other willow a few feet away?
Some minor flooding continued on roads due to leaves plugging up catch basin’s, staff managed to continue to keep the catch basin’s clear, we appreciated the help from residents who did this on their streets.
City work crews moved quickly to clean up the more than 20 trees that came down during the storm.
The rains diminished in intensity throughout the early morning.
There was some damage to signal lights and street lights due to the wind. Signal staff were in overnight to deal with the problems. Clean-up will continue today.
Construction work on the pier was limited – there was no visible damage to that construction site as a result of the high winds.
The top floor of the east side of the Riviera is gone and the rest of the structure will be down before the end of the week. How many stories disappear with the close to iconic Burlington motel?
But a couple of hundred yards to the east, a local, not quite iconic Burlington structure began to meet its end as construction equipment tore at the walls and brought the building down. The stories those rooms could tell if they had the chance. Lanmar Demolition expects to need three weeks to bring the building down and then clean up the site to make it ready for construction crews that will begin work on the first of the three structures approved for the site.
Approved for the site back in 1985 are two seven storey structures and a 22 storey building. Construction on an eight story Delta Hotel will begin early in the New Year. The developers are asking the city’s Committee of Adjustment for an eight floor that will house administrative offices.
