Tornado confirmed between Burlington and Cambridge
Posted August 25, 2011 5:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Environment Canada has confirmed that an F1 tornado with winds between 120 and 170 km/hr formed somewhere between Cambridge and Burlington during Wednesday’s wild weather.
The twister was part of a series of powerful thunderstorms that swept across the GTA Wednesday night, causing some significant damage in Burlington.
Crews worked through the night to clear debris blocking both sides of Lakeshore Road. A massive tree — one of dozens knocked over — was uprooted on Lakeshore, near Brant Street.
Engineers checked the Burlington lift bridge Thursday morning after scaffolding from the Burlington Skyway blew onto the structure Wednesday night. It reopened shortly after when inspectors determined there was no damage.
Traffic lights were knocked out, phone line problems were reported and there were widespread power outages.
There were unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds in other areas, including Goderich, the town on Lake Huron where an F3 tornado touched down Sunday. No new damage was reported in Goderich, and on Thursday power was restored to thousands of residents. It’s expected that 90 per cent of residents will have electricity back by Friday.
Hydro One crews were still working to restore power to several other pockets across Southwestern Ontario Thursday morning. Up to 25,000 customers were left without electricity following Wednesday’s powerful storms, but by late morning power was restored to about 12,000.
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In Toronto, fire crews were called out to douse flames at a Sheppard Avenue East townhouse sparked by a lightning strike.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 9468 Sheppard Ave. E., near Meadowvale Road, just after midnight. When they arrived, the fire had spread to a neighbouring home.
No injuries were reported and damage is pegged at about $100,000.
And the intense weather system with its heavy lightning forced officials to shut down the C.N.E. at 9 p.m. A Toronto FC game was also stopped.
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