Winnipeg man has close call after tree lands on him

A Winnipeg man says he's lucky to be alive after a large tree fell onto his carand pinned him to the ground on Saturday.

Jeremy Toews says he was carrying his 18-month-old daughter to his car on Harvard Avenue Westat around 5 p.m.when the tree fell on top of his vehicle.

"We were just getting ready to go for groceries and I was just putting my daughter in the car, and it just fell," he told CBC News on Sunday.

Toews said the tree pinned him down for about a minute before a neighbour ran to his rescue and they both lifted the trunk off him.

"It fell on us, knocked me to the ground, knocked her to the ground. Miraculously she's OK and so am I," he said.

Toews said his daughter somehow landed on the ground, away from the fallen tree,andwas not harmed. He suffered minor bumps and scratches.

As for the car, he said it's likely a write-off at this point.

The incident happenedduring a storm that brought strong winds and heavy rainfall to Winnipeg and much of southern Manitoba on Saturday.

• Heavy rainfall, strong winds pound southern Manitoba

A tree narrowly missed a vehicle when itfell on Hugo Street and Fleet Avenue, while another car was crushed by a tree that was knocked down near the 400 block of River Avenue.

The City of Winnipeg says since Friday, staff have received calls about 200 to 300 trees and branches being knocked down.

Crews are working on clearing the debris as quickly as possible, based on a priority sequence, but a spokesperson said there is no way to tell when everything will be cleaned up.

Anyone who sees a downed tree is asked to call 311 and report it.

It willcontinue to be windy on Sunday: Environment Canada hasissued a special weather statement for the city andsouth-central Manitoba, warning of strong winds gusting up to 80 km/h.

Manitoba Hydro crews spent much of the dayrestoring electricityto areas that experienced outages due tostrong winds bringing tree branches down onto power lines.

Hydro spokesperson Scott Powell said staff have been overloaded with calls throughout southern Manitoba and the Interlake region, with lines affected in both urban and rural areas.

Several thousand customers in Winnipeg alone have been without electricity at various times during the weekend, Powell said.

All available staff are out working, but Powell said the public utility has called in additional resources.

He could not say when the power will be fully restored in all affected areas.

The storms have been flooding some basementsin Winnipeg city officials say they've received 12 reports of sewer backups, seven clean water backups, and 67 plugged catch basins as of Sunday afternoon.