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Wind storm in June blew hatch off the water tower

Council considers insurance for the water tower after-the-fact
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In the wind event from June 20, Eckville suffered its share of damage.

Most of that damage in the form of ripped up trees, blown-off branches and downed power lines.

There was a little more damage caused then thought.

A hatch from the top of the water town was blown off during the storm that night.

“We aren’t sure how it happened exactly, but we knew it was blown quite a ways in the wind,” said Chief Administrative Officer Jack Ramsden.

The hatch, which sits on the top of the tower over the entry access stairway, was found close to the curling rink and dug into the ground about an inch or so.

Particularly surprising about this is how heavy the hatch is.

Ramsden says it should easily be 30 lbs.

“I thought it was the lid to a trash can when I saw while driving by,” said Mayor Helen Posti.

Luckily the hatch didn’t hit anyone or anything. This is especially important because the Town doesn’t have insurance on the water tower.

If the hatch had connected with anything during the storm, it would have caused some major issues.

“That is a major liability, if it had hit something - or heaven forbid someone - there would have been some real problems,” said Coun. Sandra Hallgren.

Posti said they were approached once a few years ago about buying insurance for the water tower.

However, she said the insurance was for if the tower was ever to fall over.

Ramsden was shocked to find the Tower wasn’t properly insured.

“We need to fix that. We cant have it going uninsured incase something happens,” he said.

Ramsden said he would be looking into insurance for the water tower.

In the mean time, Council is looking for a way to reattach the hatch to the water tower.

This could prove to be difficult as the hatch is larger then the opening.

“We can’t carry it up, it just won’t fit,” said Ramsden.

What will have to happen is the hatch will have to be lifted above the tower to be reattached.

This could prove difficult due to the size of the water tower, which is somewhere around 45 metres tall.

The Town will have to find a crane tall enough to do the work.

Before if can be attached, the Town will also have to make sure the tower is safe to have someone climb up there.

“We don’t want to get rid of it. It’s a bit of a unique feature,” said Posti.

It will take a while before the hatch is reattached, according to Ramadan.