Both North Battleford and Battleford reported no major damage in the area following Monday's winter storm. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Close call

Battlefords avoid major storm damage

Mar 30, 2021 | 4:25 PM

Despite blistering winds during Monday’s winter storm, the Battlefords came away largely unscathed.

According to both the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford, there were no reports of major signage, power lines or other markers knocked over by gusts in the range of 100 kilometres per hour over the course of the storm. The wind resulted in situations across the province like a Tim Hortons sign being blown over in Kindersley. North Battleford Deputy Fire Chief Colin O’Hara said it was surprisingly quiet on Tuesday for the crew, as they didn’t notice anything more than tree branches strewn around some areas.

“We didn’t get a call for a power line being down or anything yesterday,” he said.

O’Hara called the community very fortunate there wasn’t significant damage.

“With the force and the duration that the wind blew [throughout the day], the city is very lucky we didn’t have any issues regarding power loss or anything else damage wise that we were aware of,” he said.

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While residents may have avoided a negative outcome in that instance, O’hara said there are still reasons to be cautious in the coming days and weeks with changing weather conditions. One of the department’s focuses is ice on the North Saskatchewan River breaking up from spring flow.

“We’re always on the lookout for flooding or people wanting to be around the ice when they shouldn’t be,” O’Hara said.

Another potential issue could be dry conditions this spring.

“In the south of Saskatchewan, we’ve had some grass fires already and to be honest we’re not very wet here,” O’hara said.

“As the weather changes, our issues change too.”

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cjnbnews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW