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A 42-foot spruce tree fell at Allan Shortt's property on Otto Drive early Sunday morning. A car and truck received minor damage. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Boaters weren't the only ones to experience the awesome power of last weekend's windstorm.

A tree lays where it fell on 48 Street Sunday morning after narrowly missing Chris Self's trailer. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

Several residents woke up Sunday to find fallen trees in their yards or on their vehicles, left in the wake of Saturday's storm that brought wind gusts of up to 90 km/h.

Robert O'Rourke, owner of Omega Marine on School Draw Avenue, hadn't noticed the fallen willow in his front yard until Yellowknifer approached him around noon on Monday.

"I had been out working in the yard (Sunday) and didn't notice it then," said O'Rourke, pointing out that there was some rot at the base of it. "It will give me something for the fireplace. You gotta let it dry out a bit, though, first."

On 48 Street, Chris Self had actually been away when a deciduous tree fell near his lot.

"We had a trailer parked (on the street) nearby and the tree had fallen right in behind it," said Self, saying he first noticed it after coming home Saturday night. "We called up the city and it didn't take long for them to take it away. It was very good.

"It was a huge honking tree that came down. It was a big, full live branch, but I am just glad it missed our trailer because it could have done a lot of damage."

One of the more significant tree falls, however, was on Otto Drive at the home of Allan Shortt. A 42-foot spruce tree in the front yard came down and landed on his truck and car.

"My daughter got home 3:15 a.m. (Sunday) and I guess the truck alarm was going," said Shortt. "So I went down and barricaded it off. I hauled it out of there Monday."

Shortt, who works for Clark Builders, had called his insurance company before using a zoom boom to lift the tree off the vehicles at 7 a.m. on Monday. He then took the pieces to the dump.

"I wanted to lift the tree up before moving the vehicles to prevent anymore damage," he said.

Shortt said the damage was minor. One of the car's lights is broken and the hood and bumper have some marks.

"The tree has been there as long as I have been here and I don't know how many 42-foot trees are in Yellowknife," he said, adding he has been at the location 20 years. "It was a big one.

"That tree is probably 60 or 70 years old."

At least two trees were laying across McMahon Frame Lake Trail, including a large spruce near the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool, on Monday.

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