Wet, windy weather wreaks havoc for residents in Niagara

People in the Niagara Region have been hit with severe winds and rain, with some experiencing significant flooding, and at least one person had a huge tree fall onto their home.

The home on Crystal Beach sustained significant damages following strong windstorms in the area on Tuesday.

“Toppled the tree down, and the feet were wet on the tree. We have a ditch, ditches were full of water. So it came down on the core of the house, almost into the living room,” Homeowner Chris Graves said.

It happened around 3 p.m. and Graves says his dog, Rosie, was the only one at home at the time.

Reg Smith of Smith’s Home Services says he has a huge tree to deal with here.

“High winds out here and it went down and crushed the house… and we got a boom coming over tomorrow morning to lift it off so we could finish chopping it up,” Smith said.

Graves is now thinking about taking down another tree in front of his home, to prevent this from happening again.

“Right beside me we have another tree and now I gotta contemplate on taking it down,” Graves said.

The homeowner says he’s getting used to severe storms in the area.

“We have lake effect weather all the time, whether it be snow, rain or windstorms… welcome to the beach.”

READ MORE: Drivers warned to travel safely amid wet winter weather

And in St. Catharines, a neighbourhood near Louth Street and Valley Road was hit with heavy flooding.

Windy McPhee lives in the area and says flooding has been a major issue in the neighbourhood for the past three years.

“Everyone’s lands was flooding, their front yards and their backyards,” McPhee said.

McPhee says she dug a five foot trench last summer to protect her home and land, but she says more needs to be done.

“There’s a lot of people right now that’s taking the storm water through their backyards and draining it through their yards. And you know, we can’t be responsible for all this storm water…we don’t want to own the creek,” McPhee said.

McPhee says the city needs to do more to help the community.

“I think the city should take responsibility and help all the people in the community to help remove the water and not use our yards as a flooding plain.”