It’s been more than three weeks since post-tropical storm Dorian ripped through the Halifax Regional Municipality, uprooting trees, downing power lines, and even toppling a crane.
In most areas, the cleanup and restoration work is largely complete, but not entirely finished
That’s the case in Head of Chezzetcook, a community on the Eastern Shore of the HRM that says they have been overlooked, and hanging trees are causing a safety hazard.
“Since Dorian we’ve had these trees that are on lines,” says Head of Chezzetcook resident Dawn Westhaver. “My concern is that the big one that’s on the bottom of my driveway is going to pull all the lines off. I’ve called everybody I can think of to have these trees cut down.”
Westhaver and her neighbor Andrea Murray say they’ve contacted officials who have come to assess the damage, but 21 days after the storm the tree is still hanging precariously over the electrical and utility lines connected to dozens of homes.
“All the neighbours have called everyone we can think of,” says Andrea Murray. “We called transportation and municipality; we’ve called Eastlink, Bell, Nova Scotia Power, David Hendsbee. And we either didn’t hear back or have been told that it’s not their problem.”
“I even asked if my husband could cut it down. He said if he cuts it off and damages the line, we’d probably have to pay up to ten-thousand dollars.” says Westhaver.
Even to a casual observer, it’s clear that there’s not much supporting the tree. The roots are up and the top branches are hanging on the wire.
“Two are leaning towards the road, and I’m afraid those are going to let go and go across the road and at nighttime or something when the high winds come again and somebody is going to come over the hill and they’re going to get killed. Somebody is going to get hurt because they are really dangerous,” says Westhaver.
The municipality says clean-up efforts continue and are focused on debris and tree removal, as crews identify priority locations for removing downed trees.
The neighbours say they can’t understand why it’s taking so long to get the tree removed. They say it is a safety hazard, and all they can do is sit back and wait for the tree to fall and hope no one gets hurt.
