Most of the trees damaged in an intense thunderstorm that hit Edmonton more than a week ago should be cleaned up by the end of the week, a city forestry official said Monday.

Work has been underway since the storm on July 18 but crews have been focusing on problems that are not as apparent to the public but could pose more of a danger, said Jenny Wheeler, Edmonton's principal of forestry.

"Some of our priorities have been stuff that's been hanging up in the trees. We're scared about those falling down on people, vehicles, homes, garages, this sort of thing," Wheeler said. "We've found that if a tree is already on the ground, then people can see it, they know it's there."

A large number of trees, particularly along the River Valley Road, still need to be picked up by city crews, but since they aren't blocking traffic they will be picked up later, Wheeler said.

Winds reached speeds of 106 km/h during the storm which caused power outages for 57,000 homes and property damage throughout Edmonton.