Powerful Spring Storm Uproots Trees, Brings Down Power Lines
Posted June 10, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was quite a light display in the GTA overnight as severe thunderstorms brought lightning, thunder, and strong winds that knocked down trees from one end of town to the other.
A large tree was uprooted at a home on Weston Rd. in King City, shocking the family that lives there.
“The whole sky was pitch black,” one of the homeowners described. “It was very scary and I really believe to do this, it was a tornado.”
The tree fell partway across their neighbour’s lawn, and the man living there admits it reminded him of something he’d see on the big screen, not right in front of him.
“In movies, you see something like this, but in reality, no,” he said.
A huge branch also came crashing down in the Dawes and Danforth area. It just missed Norm White’s car.
“Sounded like an artillery barrage really. It was a very violent storm,” he said. “I figure that that was not lightning, that it was just the torque of the wind blowing that just ripped that off.”
White had just finished making his last payment on the vehicle, and was more than a little relieved that it wasn’t seriously damaged. Luckily, the branch got caught up some hyrdo wires, easing the blow.
“There’s a bit of a scratch. There’s another smaller one there,” he points out. “The hydro wires saved it…so yeah, we’re very fortunate. It could have been an awful lot worse. Could have been the house.”
In Scarborough a downed tree also brought power lines crashing down. Hydro crews worked through the night to restore power to people living in the Morningside and Ellesmere area.
Fortunately it appears no one was injured overnight.
One man was injured during a similarly intense storm that hit earlier in the day on Monday. The 46-year-old was playing a round of golf at the Royal Woodbine Golf Club near Dixon and Highway 27 when he was struck by lightning. The bolt apparently struck the ground, travelled through the ground, and knocked him over.
He’s expected to recover.
It’s the third straight day of extremely active weather in the province. Environment Canada confirms a tornado did touch down Sunday in Lucan, Ontario north of London.
It appears some relief from the heat may be on the way however. The Extreme Heat Alert issued by Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Monday was cancelled Tuesday morning and temperatures deflated to a much cooler high of 23C.
