A cold front pushing into the region produced winds up to 130km/h that downed trees and power lines across Wellington County on Sunday afternoon.
Centre Wellington and Mapleton were seemingly the hardest hit by the Oct. 15 wind storms that pummeled southern Ontario, leaving thousands without electricity, including upwards of 1,000 homes in Wellington County.
But Environment Canada officials say there were no confirmed tornadoes in the province.
“Everything we’ve seen … all point towards downbursts,” warning preparedness meteorologist Geoff Coulson told the Advertiser.
Those living near Arthur on the 16th Line in Mapleton Township, say the storm was nonetheless extremely powerful.
“Everything happened in less than 30 seconds,” said Amanda Kabbes, who along with her husband Dan was hosting a church group at their home when the storm suddenly hit.
“I was going to go outside to move the lawn chairs … and by the time I was zipping up my coat, I heard someone scream, ‘Get in the basement!’
“I looked up and it was just white (with rain). All you could see was the leaves against the window, and white, and the windows were shaking back and forth, and everyone was scooping up kids, because there was … 12 or 13 kids here … and dragging them to the basement.”
She added, “By the time everyone got to the basement, it was over … It was just barely raining afterwards. It was grey outside, but the wind was gone, it was like one big gust.”
Though a tree fell on their home, producing a loud “bang,” the Kabbes’ said they couldn’t see much due to the wind and rain, noting, “we didn’t see any rotation.” They were later told there was a tornado warning in the area.
Holly Rogerson, who rents a property on the opposite side of the 16th Line, was not home when the storm hit, completely destroying a driving shed containing a combine and a tractor, among other equipment.
“That’s completely gone. Part of that roof ended up on the house, and that’s where the damage happened house-wise,” Rogerson said, noting the roof of their home was damaged by the shed debris.
“No one was home. No one was hurt … our poor dog, she was in the garage but she’s okay – she’s just terrified.”
Rogerson explained her parents own the farm, and she and her husband, who were married this summer on the property, rent the home.
“We had it all fixed up, all the gardens done. Now we’re just trying to figure out where we’re going to go next,” she said.
Rogerson was curious if a tornado caused the damage, and Wellington North Fire Chief Dave Guilbault said he too suspected that’s what caused the damage along the 16th Line in Mapleton.
“It snapped the top off the trees, completely leveled one [shed],” he said.
“Remnants of that … actually went into the attic (of house on that property). The trees went through the roof of another house.”
Wellington North firefighters from the Arthur station responded to a call for multiple power lines downed and “a possible tornado” on the 16th Line at around 3:50pm on Oct. 15.
Guilbault said firefighters arrived at the scene to discover substantial damage to two properties, although no people or animals were injured.
While noting Environment Canada officials are the experts on storm classification, Guilbault said the damage he observed was consistent with tornado damage in some ways.
“You can see a direct pattern. It crossed a couple of concessions,” he said. “Sometimes trees get uprooted, but the power of the wind just snapped them off at the top.
“We had a tornado touch down in Arthur a few years ago and it was very similar-looking damage,” he noted.
But Coulson said as is the case for damage across southern Ontario, the destruction on the 16th Line was likely not the result of a tornado.
“This was most likely a downburst,” Coulson told the Advertiser.
He explained downbursts, which are strong, intense winds, will push debris in one direction, whereas a tornado will often leave a more narrow path, with debris scattered in all directions.
However, he stressed people should not minimize the impact of downbursts.
“In many cases, they’re just as dangerous as a tornado,” said Coulson, who sympathized with anyone who experienced the impacts of the downbursts.
“Wind speeds can rival a tornado … (and) with downbursts the damage can be broader in scale.”
He added the precautions for downbursts and tornadoes are the same and downbursts are also measured using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale.
Wind speeds reached 104km/h in London on Sunday afternoon, Coulson said, but they could have been higher – 120 to 130km/h – in other locations, including the Arthur and Fergus areas and others across Wellington County.
Area storms would be classified as EF-0, with wind speeds ranging from 90 to 130km/h, explained Coulson.
He said Environment Canada welcomes the opportunity to investigate reported sightings of a tornado and anyone with photos of a funnel cloud or severe damage can email them to storm.ontario@ec.gc.ca.
Other areas
By Monday, there were a limited number of locations in Centre Wellington without power, the largest being the Inverhaugh, where 527 homes were affected. Power was expected to be restored there between 4 and 8pm.
“We were very fortunate with yesterday’s storm,” said Tom Mulvey, public safety officer for the Centre Wellington fire department.
“The Fergus station was called to the Belwood area for some trees down, however they were found to be not blocking any roads or creating any hazards so our services were not required.”
Mulvey added there were some other alarm calls that were not related to the storm.
In Puslinch, power was restored by Monday morning to all but a small portion of the township near Crieff, where power was expected to be restored to less than 20 homes by 8pm.
Puslinch Fire Chief Luis Gomes added there were only two calls to the fire department and there was nothing major to report.
That also appears to be the case in other areas throughout the county – including Fergus, Erin, Hillsburgh, Rockwood, Harriston and Palmerston – where the most common call was for small fires on hydro lines due to downed trees.
