A poplar tree on the north boundary of Sylvan Lake Golf & Country Club was struck by lightning during a storm Aug. 4 and within days the damaged limbs were pruned so they didn’t damage homes just over the fence at Lakeshore Villas.
David Wasiuta who lives in one of the units said the storm is “something we will never forget. I watched two huge lightning strikes about 60 yards apart in less than two minutes.”
The first hit an electrical box that operates the golf course’s 18th hole fountain and the second the large poplar tree. “Both strikes and the booms were within the same second, sparks were flying and the whole condo complex shook and shook,” he said.
On Monday, Ben Jones, owner of Bushwacker Tree Removal, and his crew of Cody Oakley and Barb Peacock were busy removing the damaged limbs piece by piece. Jones, high up in the tree, wielded the chain saw while a series of ropes and pulleys supported him and were used to lower the chunks of tree safely to the ground. The dangerous tree specialists took about half the huge poplar down and shaped it like an elm with a huge top canopy to see if the remainder can be saved.
Wasiuta said they started about 8 a.m. and took about two and a half hours to get the rigging up before work began. They were finished about 7 p.m.