The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 31, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Windstorm knocked down trees and power lines By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Hundreds of Oakville residents had to enjoy their holidays by candlelight this week thanks to violent windstorms, which brought down power lines throughout the town. The gale force winds started blowing on Sunday causing considerable headaches for Oakville Hydro, which not only received a large number of calls about power outages, but had reduced staff to deal with them because of the holidays. "Numerous people came back from vacation to help with the number of calls that were backed up," said FOR ALL YOUR SPORTS BAR AND LIVE ENTERTAINMENT NEEDS! JOIN US FOR OUR NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY FEATURING LIVE MUSIC WITH DONE DEAL BUFFET, CHAMPAGNE, HATS & NOISEMAKERS TICKETS $10 ~ NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BAR Put a Little Magic inYour Holidays Bruce Evans, director of operations with Oakville Hydro. "Even so, we had one crew stop work at 1:30 a.m. after they'd been in since 8 a.m. the previous morning. For the safety factor, we don't like to have them working any longer than 16 hours." Evans said the biggest problem was falling trees and branches, which damaged numerous power lines. One such incident on Sunday saw the area of Spruce Street, bounded by Reynolds Street, Watson Avenue, Cornwall Road and MacDonald Road, deprived of power for between 12 and 13 hours after a large maple tree fell on the power lines. "It was rotted from the inside and it fell and just took every conductor (wire) on the pole to the ground," said Evans. "Just about every call we got that day was tree related." In other areas, the wind did the damage all on its own. Invicta Drive lost its power for more than 30 hours when heavy winds simply blew down three hydro poles in the area. "There was probably one weak pole and as soon as that one went over it just brought the next two with it. Like a domino effect," said Evans. MANUEL GARCIA / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER RECIPE FOR TROUBLE: Strong winds and soggy ground combined to topple this huge tree on Mary Street on Sunday. "We lost a large transformer at that one. A conductor came down on top of it when it was still energized and burnt a hole in the transformer so it had to be replaced." With poles also down on Westminster Drive and a reduced staff available to clean up the mess, Evans noted Oakville Hydro brought in contract crews from the surrounding area to assist in the reconnection effort. "I contacted them yesterday (Sunday). They're a large contract firm that we work with all year round," said Evans on Monday. "So, they responded and now we`ve got seven of their people here and about 12 of our own." Although all the street-wide power outages had been resolved by Tuesday afternoon, Evans said numerous personal services may not be up and running yet, as certain precautions must be taken before Oakville Hydro can do its reconnecting work. "There's numerous services lying on the ground that were ripped off the sides of homes," said Evans. "They require an electrician to make repairs because the Electrical Safety Authority requires that these things be inspected before we can reconnect for safety reasons." You rH oliday Gift Store SAVE THE BOXING DAY CLEARANCE DECEMBER 27-31 -for your finishing touch! 67 Bronte Rd., Oakville · 905-825-1202 SMOKING what's the point? On Already Sale Priced TAX * Happy New Year from Escape to a World of Comfort DURHAM FURNITURE Custom Orders until Januray 3rd Only! Holiday H Hol ay Hou Holiday Hours: y Wed, Dec 31st: 9:30am - 3:00pm Thurs, Jan 1st: CLOSED Fri, Jan 2nd: 9:30am - 9:00pm Sat, Jan 3rd: 9:30am - 5:00pm * Sale Prices Include Both Taxes Someday, you'll be offered a cigarette or be tempted to smoke. Before you start, think about it: every drag you take screws up your body. Smoking can cause permanent damage to your body. Once a person starts, it becomes extremely tough to quit. And did we mention all that cash you'll be blowing in the process? So, if you're tempted to start, ask yourself, "What's the point?" This message brought to you by: "MASONRY & FIREPLACE DESIGN SPECIALISTS" w w w. c o b b l e s t o n e m b e r s . c a 217 Lakeshore Road East Downtown Oakville Since 1953 406 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE ACROSS FROM RONA LANSING 905-337-2066 www.swissinteriors.com 905.844.3530