Fallen trees cause damage in Stephenville
112 kilometre-per-hour gust recorded at airport before wind gauge failed
STEPHENVILLE — The sounds of chainsaws were prevalent in Stephenville on Monday as contractors and residents handling the problems left in hurricane Dorian's wake were busy with cleanup.
Stephen Brown's troubles started before the winds of hurricane Dorian — which was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it arrived in Newfoundland — were at their peak, when a tree fell on his house at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The higher part of the tree hit the upper roof, snapping off upper limbs, and the lower part of the tree his his garage.
Employees of Precision Enterprises were on site Monday afternoon removing the tree from the garage portion of the house to assess if damage to the roof had occurred.
Meanwhile, Harry Hudson of Treeworks had his crew at 120 Queen St., where a large tree on Eddy Sheppard’s property had fallen on the roof of his home. The only damage appeared to be a dent to some eavestrough.
Hudson said Sheppard was lucky to sustain little damage.
Mike Campbell, town manager in Stephenville, said he heard the damages from Dorian were limited to fallen trees, and siding that had lifted off some buildings.
He said contractors were out early Sunday in areas where there were obstructions on roads because of fallen trees.
A.J. Felix, a weather observer at Stephenville airport, said the highest gusts recorded during the weekend were up to 112 kilometres per hour, but the airport's equipment was down for a four- to five-hour period on Sunday, with no wind-gauge reports.