Powerful Storms Pummel GTA

Vicious.

That’s the only way to describe the weather that pounded the Greater Toronto Area and adjacent portions of Ontario Monday afternoon.

What started as an early morning drizzle quickly grew into a line of severe thunderstorms that ripped across the province.

In some areas including most of downtown Toronto, the nasty weather was at worst powerful rains, pounding down on the concrete and sending pedestrians running for cover.

But elsewhere, things weren’t quite so playful.

At the Buttonville Airport in Markham, intense winds toppled three planes and sparked concerns a tornado might not be far behind.

In fact it never came, but a twister did touch down near Owen Sound a short time later, though thankfully no major damage was reported.

There were similar reports of a funnel cloud in Mississauga, but those went unconfirmed.

Not that there wasn’t plenty of damage anyway.

The same storm tore the roof off a garden centre at Kennedy Rd. and Major Mackenzie Dr., and the potentially fatal flying metal debris had staff at the site fearing for their own safety. Luckily, nobody was injured.

“Within a split second a loud crash and winds just flying … plants flying,” said Matt Peters, an employee at the garden centre.

By evening the rocky conditions had subsided, but weather officials say it could be just one of many times this summer that a low-pressure system causes violent and unpredictable weather to ravage the region.

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