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VIDEO: Full windstorm cleanup could take 'weeks'

Toppled trees wreaked havoc on commutes and routes, while power outages are still affecting 180,000 Hydro customers (as of Monday)
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Violent winds toppled tress and wreaked havoc in Greater Vancouver last weekend, and an estimated 180,000 BC Hydro customers are still without power (as of Monday morning, August 31, 2015).


All the trees that fell on major roads and routes were expected to be cleaned up by Monday in Vancouver, but the full clean-up of last weekend's aggressive windstorm could take "weeks," according to the Deputy City Manager.

"We'll get the majority of the big trees out of the streets," said Sadhu Johnston. "But it will take weeks for us to fully clean up the debris.

"We still, at the height of the issues yesterday, we were all impacted by power outages. There were over 500,000 people that were out of power in the Lower Mainland... many parts of Vancouver still remain out of power, including City Hall and many, many intersections across the city."

As of Monday morning, 180,000 BC Hydro customers were still without power in Greater Vancouver (reports the Surrey Leader).

"This is probably one of the more intense storms that we've had over the last decade," Johnston said. "Obviously, the drought led to more trees coming down, which led to more power outages, so it kind of compounded."

Video/Files: The Canadian Press