A large tree coming down in the middle of the city snarled a busy Toronto street and its transit line for much of the day. According to CBC News, crews are working to repair downed hydro lines and damaged streetcar wires on a portion of Dundas Street just west of Sherbourne after a massive tree fell down.
The timing turned a fallen tree into a commuter headache. CBC reports that it happened early this morning, blocking the road and forcing commuters to find alternate routes as they tried to figure out how to get around the obstruction.
The scale of the blockage shut the street entirely. With the tree laying across Dundas, the entire street was closed in both directions, cutting off a stretch of one of the area's main routes.
The damage went beyond the roadway itself. According to CBC, the tree took out hydro lines as well as the overhead wires for the streetcar that runs along Dundas, tangling both power and transit infrastructure in a single fall.
Transit riders felt the impact directly. The report says streetcars were left stranded as service in the area was shut down in both directions, halting a line that many depend on to move through that part of the city.
For all the disruption, the outcome could have been far worse. CBC notes that the tree did not hit any pedestrians or vehicles on the road, even though some in the area say they had concerns about it for years because it was leaning, with one resident recalling how heavily it had tilted.
Clearing and fixing the mess stretched across the day and beyond. According to CBC, it took city crews the better part of the day to remove the tree, and with work now underway to repair the hydro lines and the damage to the overhead streetcar wires, the TTC says it expects the repairs to last well into tomorrow.