Caught on cam: Tree slams into Courtenay, B.C. bridge
A woman and her son who were watching storm debris float past their Courtenay, B.C. home caught an unusual site on video on Monday as a large tree crashed into the city’s Fifth Street Bridge.
"There was an impressive amount of water coming down the river and there were some pretty big chunks of debris coming down at, it seemed, eye-level because the water level was really high and me and my son were out appreciating it," said Ashley Elise.
Elise says she then noticed a full-sized tree coming around the bend of where the Puntledge River transitions into the Courtenay River. The tree continued into and underneath the Fifth Street Bridge.
"It was coming broadside and I thought maybe it would get stuck at the corner," she said. "But it just kept coming. There was a large volume of water to carry it."
Her cellphone video shows the tree coming into contact with scaffolding that was in place underneath the bridge, which was being used as part of the structure’s revitalization project.
Elise says there were workers on the bridge at the time of the incident, some of whom saw the tree coming towards them.
"I just kind of hoped for the safety of the people on the bridge," she said. "It looked like they had their cameras out, you could hear them in the beginning of my video like, "Woah look at that, it’s coming,'" she said.
The city says its initial inspection indicated only negligible damage was done to the scaffolding.
"Structural integrity has been subsequently confirmed by a competent and qualified scaffold tradesperson as meeting CSA Scaffold Standards for continued access," the city said in a statement.
The city says no workers were accessing the underside of the bridge at the time of the contact.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.