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Oak Bay weathers Thursday’s storm

Large tree comes down on Oak Bay home
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The remnants of an oak tree that fell onto a south Oak Bay home during a windstorm Dec. 20. (Jesse Laufer/News staff)

It was windy, but compared to rest of Greater Victoria the Dec. 20 storm blew passed Oak Bay.

Asst. Fire Chief Cam Thomson said the department was busy, fielding six wind-related calls between 2 p.m. and midnight. Both the fire department and parks services said the most serious incident involved a tree that fell onto a south Oak Bay home. Eileen King lives in that house, and was home when the tree came down.

“Apparently the only damage is to the chimney,” King said. “I was just on my way out to put the garbage cans out when I heard it fall.”

READ MORE: Century old tree falls in Oak Bay taking power down with it

She said the tree came down at around 3:30 p.m. Unlike the grand fir tree that came down Dec. 15, this 80-plus-year-old tree didn’t cause any power losses. Still, King said crews had to work late into the night to ensure the roof didn’t sustain further damage and eventually decided to wait for cranes to come to finish removing the tree. By around noon Dec. 21, the tree was mostly taken away — what remained of it was cut into logs around the fence.

The Oak Bay Police Department responded to five storm-related calls, two of which involved a traffic light that got turned on Foul Bay Road and Oak Bay Avenue.

There were further reports of downed power lines, as well as a tree catching fire after hitting power lines.

“We got lucky because we could hear the city of Saanich responding to a number of incidents,” Ast. Chief Thomson said.



jesse.laufer@oakbaynews.com

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14914680_web1_181221-OBN-FallenOakLog-1
The remnants of an oak tree that fell onto a south Oak Bay home during a windstorm Dec. 20. (Jesse Laufer/News staff)