A mature Garry Oak tree snapped at its trunk and fell across Beach Drive early this morning blocking access in front of Oak Bay Beach Hotel.
The 150-year-old tree on private property at 1178 Beach Drive had been the subject of concern a day earlier after one of its smaller limbs had fallen during Sunday’s wind storm.
Public works reporting an oak tree has fallen in front of 1175 Beach drive. Please avoid the area while crew attend to the tree.
— OakBayFire (@OakBayFireDept) January 23, 2018
“The tree had a failure previously. A (private company) crew cleaned it up yesterday,” said Chris Paul, municipal arborist for Oak Bay. “They said they could do a bunch of work on the tree to prevent something like this from happening but it was late in the day. They cleaned up the original break but didn’t have time to get in and do the work on the rest of the tree.”
While the tree is the respnsibility of the property owner, the municipal crew were onsite to clear the road.
keri.coles@oakbaynews.com
Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.