Four days after a major storm swept through Bruce County, the clean-up continues.
All along Bruce Road 13, known as the Sauble Parkway linking Sauble Beach to Highway 21 at Southampton, the sound of chainsaws rang out on Saturday, September 11th, as cottagers tried to clean-up the many fallen trees and debris.
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The storm with its high winds, rain and hail swept across Lake Huron flattening thousands of trees in its wake and damaging many buildings and property. Miraculously, there have been no reports of personal injuries.
Two new cottagers from Guelph to the area are Michaela and Reinhard Kypke who just purchased a cottage on Saugeen leased land with the sale closing finalized in June of this year. “We purchased the cottage because we loved the trees that surrounded it. We especially love the stand of beautiful birch at the entrance.” The birch were impacted very hard. The couple thinks that their cottage may not be impacted structurally however, they are currently without power or water. “It is what it is,” says Reinhard. “Mother Nature is a force and karma is karma.”
“I’m afraid that this kind of storm is what we will see more of in the future due to climate change,” said Michaela Kypke.
Not far up Bruce Rd. 13, Cal and Bernice Muma, also of Guelph, had a cottage on the ‘lakeside’ of the Parkway which meant they too felt the impact of the storm coming across the lake. Cal Muma who was at the cottage at the time said he saw the storm coming and knew it was going to be serious.
The couples’ property faces Lake Huron and they had just built a new two-tiered deck – with steps leading down from the upper to the lower at lake level. When the storm hit, both decks moored with cement blocks were lifted and carried some 90 feet up on to the shore narrowly missing the cottage. In addition, the cottage shingles were blown from the roof so that sheets of rain poured in soaking everything inside leaving ankle deep water in the living room. “We had just bought a new sofa and chairs,” said Bernice Muma, “and all our loft beds are completely ruined.”
Both couples agreed however, that no-one was hurt and that was the main thing.
All along the Lake Huron shoreline, clean-up continues with thousand of fallen trees requiring removal. There has been no word as yet as to whether or not the damages across the area were a result of tornadoes although many residents are of the opinion that they were.
