The power of Nature's winds

A little while ago we had one heck of a windstorm. Being the southern tip of a major island we are surrounded on three sides by ocean. It tends to leave us open to lots of wind. There is rarely a day that goes by that we don't have a breeze. After each windstorm that we get there are the usual branches blown about on the streets and in people yards. There is quite often a bit of clean up to do the next day. Is par for the course when living here.

As per usual I like to go for a walk in my neighbourhood and I often go to Summit Park. It is a park that is at the top of a hill that many people live on. Is typical in Victoria. We have a lot of hills covered in residences and somewhere on or near the hill is a park for the neighbourhood. Summit Park is the one near me.

This park contains a little playground for the kids with swings, a slide and a small climbing thingy all surrounded by sand. It is a nice little space. Even the adults like to sit on the swings once in awhile and watch their little ones have fun in the sand and area.

Unfortunately with our recent windstorm a tree that was near the play ground became victim to the fierceness of Nature. In the first two pictures you can see the tree and how it fell across the slide. One of the neighbours noticed it and called the city that day. It took them a couple days to assess the damage and figure out what they were going to do. Until then they just cordoned it off and asked that no one go near it.

After the clean up you can see in the next pictures the remaining stump and the cleared area where the slide once was. I figure they left the stump to fill the hole.

It is hoped that in the Spring they will replace the slide but that might just depend on local funds and whether the neighbourhood is willing to foot the bill. Sometimes the city asks it citizens to pay for things like that.

We shall see what happens in the neighbourhood during our next windstorm. Shouldn't be too long for the next one to happen. After all we are prone to them; that and a lot of rain!