Power lines, trees, shingles and the water tower hoarding were all hit hard by two major wind storms this week.

Gusts of wind up to 70 km/h ripped almost all the hoarding off Fort Saskatchewan’s water tower Wednesday, Oct. 14.

The Heartland Air Monitoring Partnership Southfort monitoring station recorded sustained winds of up to 34.4 km/h on Wednesday, and 33.9 km/h during the second windstorm Saturday, Oct. 17. Gust of up to 70 km/h were recorded in Edmonton and 84 km/h at Namao, just west of Fort Saskatchewan.

Strathcona County officials warned of downed power lines in several rural locations Wednesday.

Fort Saskatchewan’s water tower is undergoing a $2 million refurbishment, including removal of decades of paint, in order to deal with extensive corrosion on the surface of the interior column.

The hoarding was placed on scaffolding surrounding the tower in order to contain debris while the tower is sandblasted clean. Work began on the project in the last week of July. Scaffolding alone took about a month to install, and the hoarding took another month.

That hoarding will have to be replaced before work can continue.

The refurbishment also includes the addition of a new access ladder.

The current mural on the tower will be replicated when the tower is repainted.