It’s so easy to get complacent in Campbell River.
Sure, we have winters. Sometimes we even get a little snow. Lots of rain and it’s the damp cold that’s the worst kind, right? Soaks right through you. Oooh, it’s so tough.
And after a like a month in total of days that had anything approaching winter temperatures, summer comes. Sure, we don’t get scorching 90-degree heat but it’s still pretty nice. Even a “bad” summer is pretty mellow with mists and summer rain and everything’s so green.
So, yeah, it’s pretty easy to get complacent about the climate around here.
And then you get smacked with a storm like we had Monday. Wow.
I tried to wind my way through the streets of Willow Point to drop my son off at North Island College only to find when we got there that it’s closed. Could they not have put that on a website somewhere or perhaps changed the message on their phone line? Anway, so back home we go winding our way through the street closures to find our power’s out.
Oh well. Leave the family behind and I head out to wind my way through the blocked streets again to get some pictures of the damage and eventually make my way into work.
On the Old Island Highway, I bail out of the line up heading north to get pictures of the ocean at the new pump station. I did my version of the hurricane reporter. You know the one where they’re leaning nearly horizontal to show you the power of the wind. That’s what I did trying to get back to my car. I have never felt a wind that strong before.
I gave up on the Island Highway, headed south and up Simms then north on Galerno only to be stopped by trees across the road. I eventually made it to work to upload my pictures and assess the damage.
Meanwhile, back home, a tall tree in the back yard was making my wife nervous. It swayed back and forth so much that its roots lifted the ground around it 6-8 inches. So she decides to abandon the house and go to a friend’s after warning our neighbour about the tree. Thankfully, the tree held it’s ground.
And that, of course, is the unpleasant part about all this. We all love to see the power of the wind and we shake our head in amazement at the trees being ripped out of the ground but we can’t forget the damage and threat of injury and possibly death that is caused.
Luckily, there’s no reports of serious injury or fatality but there’s no doubt it’s heartbreaking to see your house or car crushed by a tree.
It is easy to get complacent about the climate here but as this storm shows, Mother Nature should never be taken for granted.