Hundreds of unsafe trees still need to be brought down after last Friday’s violent storm that flattened most of Oastler Lake Provincial Park.
The park has been closed since last Saturday after a downburst hit the area. The only people staying at the park now are cleanup crews that have come from as far away as Sudbury.
“We have 147 campsites at Oastler Lake Provincial Park and probably without exception not one was left untouched by the storm,” says Mike Foley, park superintendent.
The storm has forever changed the landscape of the park and sparked one of the largest cleanups ever for a provincial park.
“It's been cutting nonstop for the last six days,” Foley says.
A few kilometers away, crews were busy clearing some 50 large trees from Ken Villazor's property.
“At its peak the wind was so loud you couldn't even hear the trees falling. It was pretty intense,” says Villazor.
Seguin Township crews have been working nonstop since the storm and there’s still more work to be done.
“We've probably got another two and a half, three weeks’ worth of clean up left,” says John Chisolm, a spokesperson with the township
Crews at Oastler hope that cleanup hope won't take quite as long.
“Getting the trees on the ground and getting them bucked up, chipped up and moved off site so we can get the campground open as soon as we possibly can.”
Park officials say don't expect the provincial park to be open anytime soon. They hope to have it open by July 24.
