'Never seen anything like it,' says Summerside councillor of damage from Dorian

The city of Summerside is still taking stock of damage from the weekend's storm on Monday — and beginning the long road to recovery.

As of 4 p.m. Monday, there were still between 300 and 500 customers without power, and they could be waiting several more days before power is restored.

When post-tropical storm Dorian passed the city Saturday night, visibility was low for those who were out in it, with trees down everywhere.

"There were wires down. At one point, we actually went through some wires because you couldn't see them until it was the last minute," said Justin Doiron, a city councillor and volunteer firefighter.

"I've never seen anything like it, even when we come in for our storm duties throughout the winter."

Trees still tangled in power lines

On Monday, community members were out clearing damage where they could. Some had to wait to even begin because trees were still tangled in power lines.

"We get our winter storms but this was devastating for sure. It was shocking to say the least," said Sam Brown.

He returned home Saturday evening to find a tree had landed on his home over top of the living room. It was still there Monday — he has to wait for the city to assess how to move forward as the tree fell onto power lines.

"I think a lot of the other people are very much worse off than we are right now," said Brown. "Like I said, we have a living room that is not leaking right now at this moment and the tree will get off the house. It will get done."

'Always good that comes'

People were out clearing up debris from their yards where they could as the sounds of chainsaws working filled the air throughout much of the city.

"It's great that the school was cancelled so I got a lot of helpers, my young fella and his friend, and we are all working hard," said Jason Goeseels.

"Summerside got hit pretty hard and a lot of big trees, beautiful trees came down. It's unfortunate."

Betsy Cormier said it feels like there are more fallen trees in the city than there are standing, but there is some positivity in the community. 

"In all tragedy there's always good that comes and I've had a couple of people call from out of province checking on us and wishing us well and offering to help. We've had some people locally offering to help as well," Cormier said.

"Just gives you faith in humanity to know that people are there for you when times are tough."

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